Harry Potter and His Dreams
by kateydidnt
Summary: Harry's dreams cause trouble in his fifth year! Rating upped for this chapter, just to be safe, for general unpleasantness. Harry has classes and another dream!
1. One

Harry Potter and his Dreams

  


Chapter One

It was the night of July 30th and Harry was massaging his sore muscles while trying to finish up his Herbology essay on magical gardens.  He had already written about types of soils that helped which plants grow best and about which plants were easiest to work with, and which plants should _not_ be planted together. However he fell asleep halfway through his explanation of which spells to use to weed and which spells to use as repellents.  

Harry woke up the next morning and immediately reached for some parchment to write a letter.  Suddenly, his door flew open and Aunt Petunia stormed in.

"Today, you are going to finish the weeding you started yesterday, and you'd better do it right this time."  She caught sight of his Herbology book and essay parchment sitting on the bed.  She marched over and picked it up. Glancing it over she rounded on Harry, "How dare you write this rubbish! How dare you do this under my roof.  I'm going to burn these," she added carrying them out of the room.  She snatched the letter out of his hand on her way.

Harry sighed, this was the second time this had happened.  Last time it had been his history book and essay.  Now he'd have to buy two new books.  Luckily, he'd finished his potions essay and it was safely put away.  He stood and went down stairs to find his aunt.  In the kitchen he found her, delightedly, ripping his Herbology book, page by page, and burning it in the pot belly stove.  

"Aunt Petunia, now I'll have to buy a new text book. Can I at least keep the essay, so I can turn my homework in on time?"  Harry asked, not really expecting her to agree, but just on the off chance that she would.

Petunia gave him a dirty look and snatched up the essay, and fed it into the fire.  "You can't stop me.  You'll be expelled from that freak school of yours if you do anything… unnatural," she said, snatching up the letter he had started.

Harry thought about this for a moment and then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand.  "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, and the letter flew to his hand.  Catching it, Harry set it on the table, then pointed his wand at it and muttered "Incendio," burning it immediately to a crisp.

Petunia stared at him in complete shock then she started screaming.

"Silencio!" Harry commanded.

Petunia continued screaming, only now no one could hear her.

Harry walked outside and proceeded to use one of the weeding charms he'd read about the night before.  Vernon was just coming into the kitchen when Harry re-entered.

"What is the meaning…" Vernon trailed off as he saw Harry's wand pointing at him.

"Locomotor Mortis!"  As the leg locker curse took effect, Vernon lost his balance and nearly fell over, but he caught himself on the counter.  

Harry did a translation spell that Hermione had showed him and Ron the year before in preparation for the Tri-Wizard Tournament (she had figured it might be useful to know in case one of the guests had not known English).  Vernon found himself yelling at Harry in Swahili.  Dudley, hearing the commotion, walked into the kitchen and found himself face to face with a black snake that Harry had just conjured up.

"Circle him, but do no harm," Harry hissed at the reptile.

Looking around Harry saw a spider.  He made a decision.  He took the silencing charm off his aunt and did the jelly-legs curse on her.  Then he transformed her tea cup into a rat.  He changed Uncle Vernon's language back to English and put a silencing charm on him.  

Finally he was ready; he summoned the spider to the middle of the kitchen table.

"Watch closely everybody," Harry said in a dangerous voice, "Engorgio."  The spider grew.

_This is it,_ Harry thought to himself, _it probably won't work, but even attempting this will get me expelled if what I've done already hasn't._  He smiled in grim determination.  "Crucio!"  The spider started to writhe in pain.  After a few moments Harry removed the curse and returned the spider to his normal size.

"I'm being nice Uncle Vernon; I could do that."

Harry lifted the wand and pointed it at his uncle, who was ashen and trembling.

"Tarantellagra!" 

Uncle Vernon found that, far from his legs not working at all, he was now doing an Irish jig.

"Harry, I suggest you put your wand down," a steady voice behind him said.  Harry smiled to himself, the response had been faster than he'd expected.  Harry turned and, just to make sure there was no misunderstanding, pointed his wand at Albus Dumbledore. "Expelliarmus!" he said and caught the headmaster's wand.

Dumbledore stretched out his hand and said in a commanding voice, "Istoc accedete!"  Both wands Harry was holding leaped into his open palm.

Quickly Dumbledore made the snake vanish, performed the counter-jinx on Petunia's Jelly-Legs, and ended the three spells on Vernon. He turned to Harry and immediately performed a restraining spell.  Harry found that he could move freely, he was not confined in anyway, he could simply not move from the place he was standing.  Dumbledore moved Harry into the living room then returned to the kitchen and questioned the Dursley's as to what had happened. Returning to the living room he transported himself and Harry to a room with two chairs and a table.  He released Harry from the Restraining Spell and motioned for him to sit down.

Dumbledore sat across from Harry and addressed him, "Would you please explain your actions." It was not a request. Dumbledore's expression was as serious as Harry had ever seen him.

Harry looked away, glancing at the walls, and shrugged, "It was my birthday, I decided to have a little fun."

"Harry," there was a note of warning in Dumbledore's voice.

"Fine, I was sick of the way they treated me.  Aunt Petunia took my Herbology book and essay, burnt them, and then ordered me to weed the garden.  Yesterday Uncle Vernon had me rearranging the garage.  I was sick of being their slave."

"I know that is as much a lie as your first answer was," Dumbledore said, Harry noticed there was no twinkle in his eye and that there was none of the usual kindness in his voice either.  It reminded Harry of his second year when he and Ron had driven the flying Ford Angela to Hogwarts.

"How do you know that it's a lie?" Harry asked, he couldn't stop now.

"Because you are smart enough to know that a missing homework assignment would only result in a lower grade, while using magic to retrieve it would result in expulsion."

Harry, even though he knew his reasons for his actions, couldn't look Dumbledore straight in the eye for long.  Focusing his gaze, on the professor's left ear he answered, "So maybe I wasn't thinking and did it in a fit of anger.

Dumbledore shook his head, "Harry, I want no more evasions.  I want straight answers from you right now.  Did you know what you were doing?"

"Of course," Harry finally answered with a sigh.

"Did you know the penalty?"

"Expulsion? Yes." Harry straightened his shoulders and sat up straighter and looked Dumbledore in the eye for a brief moment.

Dumbledore studied him then inhaled sharply and leaned forward, "You wanted to be expelled," he stated.

Harry shrugged staring at the paint covering the walls, it was a off-white non-color, making the room seem completely bleak and empty.

"Harry, do you realize where you are?" Dumbledore asked, bringing him back to look at those blue eyes.

Harry shook his head and went back to studying the walls, if he looked at Dumbledore, he'd break down and his whole plan would be ruined.  

"You are at the Ministry Facility for Juvenile Wizard Offenders, also known as JWO (AN: pronounced J-whoa), in an interrogation room.  You will have a trial for using magic underage, especially for using the Crucaitus Curse, even if it wasn't on a human being.  As a juvenile you have no bail.  I'll help you Harry, all I can, if you explain to me why you did this."  Dumbledore paused, waiting for Harry to answer.  When it was apparent that he wasn't going to answer Dumbledore continued, "It is looked on better if you confess straight out what happened, rather than have a truth potion force it out." Dumbledore leaned back and waited for Harry to say something.

It was tempting,  It was _very_ tempting.  Dumbledore could handle things, couldn't he?  The longer the silence went on, the more sense it made to Harry to just tell Dumbledore.  He broke the silence and drove the thoughts of telling everything right now from his head.

"How did you know?" Harry asked.

"About you doing magic? Your house is monitored, as are all homes of underage wizards.  The Duty Supervisor saw what you were doing and followed code for a youth doing that much magic.  The law says that doing that much magic requires not a letter, but intervention from a certified Ministry Youth Official to bring you in to questioning.  I have the necessary qualifications.  She sent me as a special favor to you."

"Who was it?"

"Molly Weasley.  Its what she does over the summer to bring in some more income." (AN: obviously, such a job would be useless during the school year because all the underage wizards would be in school where they are allowed to use magic.)

Harry cringed to himself, she'd be so disappointed.  Ron would probably know by now.  Then Harry reminded himself why and was glad.

"Your aunt said that you were writing a letter.  Addressed to your friend," Dumbledore couldn't say the name because there were recording spells set up in the interrogation rooms, "What were you writing about?"

Harry didn't answer.

Dumbledore tapped his wand on the table and a parchment appeared.  He read it quickly then told Harry, "Your trial is in five weeks, the courts are backed up and so you have a wait.  You have the option of being in custody of Hogwarts until then or remaining here.  Which would you prefer?"

"Here," Harry answered quickly.

"What is this sudden aversion to Hogwarts? Would you tell me that?"

Harry shook his head.

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, disappointment entering his voice for the first time that morning.

"Will the papers know about this?" Harry could only imagine the field day they'd have with this story.

"No.  The offenses and trials of underage wizards are, for the most part, shielded from the public eye.  Your trial won't be in front of a jury either, only a juvenile court judge.  As the apprehending official I'll be there and so will Molly Weasley, but there won't be a public audience.  There are very few times when juveniles are tried as adults, so any offense you are convicted of will be sealed when you become a full-wizard."

"I harmed Muggles though, they certainly noticed my magic, why is that not an adult offense?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Because, technically, your relatives are what is called 'informed muggles.' They know of the wizarding world, just like the family of any muggle-born and are allowed to see powers exercised.  An adult who did what you did to your relatives would get a stiff fine or a very short jail sentence, no more than three days.  The bulk of your offense is the fact that you did magic at all."

Harry didn't reply.  Dumbledore stood and prepared to transfer Harry to his cell.

"Thank you, for offering to help me.  You'll find out later why I couldn't accept it," Harry said quietly, standing.

Dumbledore nodded and with a flick of his wand Harry found himself in a room.  There was a bed, a table and a chair.  A small bathroom with toilet and sink was connected.  The door to the cell was solid, with a window set high in it. Every morning at 6 o'clock sharp Harry's room would light up.  On the table would be fresh towels and clothes.  Within minutes he was led to the showers.  After returning food would appear on the table, the plate and utensils would disappear when he finished.  Every night at 10 o'clock his lights would go out.

Harry was actually in a minimum security cell.  He was allowed privacy, unlike in the high security cells.  Only one person knew who he was.  By special request he never met anyone else.  The guard assigned to his block who checked on him periodically, and escorted him to and from the showers, library and exercise room, was the only person he saw.

Harry spent most of his time reading books from the library and finishing his homework, on the off chance that after the trial he'd be allowed to return to Hogwarts.

The five weeks went surprisingly fast and Harry found himself dressing in newer, nicer looking robes and holding the parchment on which his trial date and time were written, waiting for it to be activated as a portkey.

A sharp jerk at his naval told him it had activated.  He found himself flying in a whirl of colors, landing with a jolt on his feet.  He stumbled a bit and a hand reached out to steady him. He turned and nodded thanks to Molly Weasley.  Taking in his surroundings he found himself in a rather crowded room.  There were shelves and shelves of books lining the walls.  On every available surface, besides the desk, were stacks of paper.  Behind the desk sat a man wearing black robes with gold trim.  He had brown hair and a handsome face, in fact if Harry hadn't known he was a wizard he'd have easily mistaken him for a lawyer on a muggle TV sitcom.  A placard on the desk said "Mundungus Fletcher."

Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley occupied two chairs, an empty one sat in the middle for Harry.  Rather than sitting, though, Harry presented himself to the judge standing.

"Harry Potter, you are accused of performing 18 different spells on or in the presence of muggles as an underage wizard. How do you plead?" Mundungus began.

"Guilty," Harry answered, his voice steady.

"Very well, this will be a sentencing hearing then.  I have the testimonies of both Molly Weasley and Albus Dumbledore concerning the day in question, July 31st of this year.  You will be administered a truth potion and asked questions concerning your actions.  As an underage wizard you are not given the right to refuse a truth potion."

"I understand."

Judge Fletcher tapped his wand on the desk and a flask of potion appeared. "This is a mild truth potion, it will still force the truth but you will also have more control over yourself, not like when veritaserum is used. The potion allows us to see emotion, your cooperation or belligerency, while still bringing the truth out.  This potion is also only active when I ask you questions. If anybody else asks you a question, you could lie or refuse to answer."

Harry picked up the potion and drank it all down quickly.

"Have a seat," Fletcher said

He sat in the available chair, Dumbledore to his left, Mrs. Weasley to the right.

"Why did you decide to use magic at all on the day of your birthday?" was the judge's first question.

"I wanted to get expelled," Harry answered simply.

"And why did you even attempt the Crucatius Curse?"

"I knew that even if all the other spells wouldn't get me expelled, using that, even not on a human, would."

"Would you please explain why you wanted to get expelled from Hogwarts?"

"I knew I couldn't return the first week of Hogwarts and getting expelled was the first solution that came to mind."

"Why couldn't you return to school?"

"If I had been there it would have been too dangerous."

"So, you got expelled to protect yourself?"

"No!" Harry quickly corrected, "To protect Hogwarts."

"Why did Hogwarts need protection?"

Harry sighed, "I had a dream the night before, Voldemort was planning on attacking Hogwarts the night we got back to school, because Hogwarts defenses are not fully activated for about the first week of school."

"But how could you help protect it from this attack?"

"The spells aren't so weak that Voldemort could attack, but he has my blood in him, he's connected with me.  The combination of the weakened defenses and his connection with me would have given him a very good chance at success.  If I wasn't there it wouldn't work at all."

"Why didn't you tell an adult wizard all of this?  Why did you decide to do this all by yourself?"

"I was going to but then my Aunt reminded me that by using magic I would be expelled.  I thought it was the best thing to do."

"Who were you going to inform?"

Here Harry bit his lip  and showed the first signs of not wanting to answer a question.  Mundungus noticed this and waited, expecting the answer to burst forth any second.  It did, but Harry put his hand over his mouth so nothing could come out.

"Harry, who were you going to inform?"  Mundungus asked again, surprised at the strength Harry had to resist so long.

"Its ok Harry," Dumbledore said softly.

All signs of hesitation disappeared and Harry answered, "Sirius Black, my godfather."

"Harry, that answer will not go any further than this room.  For your own peace of mind, I know he is innocent."

Harry sighed in relief.

"Harry, have you been in contact with Professor Dumbledore in the past two weeks?"

"No, how could I have been?"

"Good, I can tell you that your story checks out completely with what Albus has told me."

Harry was confused and it showed on his face.

"Please explain to him, Albus."

Harry turned to the headmaster.

"Two weeks ago one of my spies told me that Voldemort was planning on attacking Hogwarts, that it would be achieved through your connection with Voldemort and because of the weak protections on Hogwarts.  I realized that you must have known this and had gotten expelled to protect the school."

"Harry," he turned back to Mundungus, who continued, "I have one last question.  Why did you not tell Dumbledore this on your birthday?"

"If I told him then he would have had to decide to protect either me or Hogwarts.  I didn't want him to have to make that decision so I made it for him and put myself in the custody of the ministry."

Judge Fletcher nodded and pointed his wand at Harry, muttering something.  "That nullified the potion.  Now, all that is left is my decision as to sentencing.  I believe that the reasons which you have presented are justifiable cause for magical use of an under-age wizard, under section I of paragraph D of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery of 1875.  The Department of Juvenile Justice leaves the decision of repealing the expulsion from Hogwarts to the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.  However, it is the decision of this court also that Harry see a professional wizard counselor no less than twice a month, until such time as the counselor sees fit to discontinue such meetings."

"What! Why?" exclaimed Harry.

Mundungus sighed, "Harry, I've been working with young delinquent wizards for the past fifteen years.   There are many reasons for their actions, most are in rebellion, some are dealing with more grief or anger than they can handle, others are raised in households where they are taught to hate and act out what they are taught.  There are other reasons, too. But you are a rare case, I don't get many adolescents like you.  Your reasons were not for yourself.  That's all well and good, except you take too much on yourself.  You try to protect everyone else, and you sacrifice yourself to do it.  Sometimes that is necessary, but it should never be asked or expected from a child.  You need to learn to let others help you, to trust the adults in your life."

Dumbledore didn't give Harry a chance to respond, but instead spoke up, "Mr. Potter I would be pleased to have you continue your education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  I believe that we can also accommodate the court ordered counseling.  The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is qualified for such a position and she knows about your godfather."

"She?"

"Yes, Arabella Figg is her name."

As everyone stood up Mundungus spoke to Dumbledore, "Albus, it would be a good idea for Harry to stay in close contact with his godfather.  If he is ever going to learn to trust others, particularly the adults that care about him, then they need to be at his disposal, especially one who is considered family."

Dumbledore nodded his agreement as he pulled the Hogwarts seal out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand. Molly smiled at Harry and wished him luck, then walked out of the office.

"Hold my hand Harry, the port key will be activated in thirty seconds.

"Harry, I wish you well.  I don't want to have you here again, unless it is only a friendly visit," the judge said.

Harry grinned and was about to answer when the portkey activated. When he stopped moving he found himself in Dumbledore's office.


	2. Two

Harry Potter and His Dreams

  


Chapter Two

"Now," Dumbledore said moving behind his desk, "here is the work you've missed this week."  He handed Harry a folder stuffed with pieces of parchment.  "you may turn in your summer work as you go to your classes.  You don't have to explain your absences to your teachers, I will ask them to allow you to make up the work and accept your summer assignments.   Today, of course, is Saturday so you can do work, relax, whatever you want.  What you tell your friends is up to you.  I have only told Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger that you are safe and that I hoped you'd be coming soon.  Now, I'll go find Arabella and talk to her, meanwhile I'll send Sirius up here.  Nobody will interrupt you in my office." Dumbledore moved toward the door.

"Professor?" Harry bit his lip as Dumbledore turned back to him then continued, "Do I take too much on myself?"

"I think you do.  Think about the trial.  First, the whole reason there was a trial was because you took it upon yourself to protect Hogwarts.  Second, you tried with all your might to protect Sirius.  Third, you tried to protect me from having to make a hard decision.  An, I'll tell you, it has been a _long_ time since anyone tried to protect me."  Harry smiled a little at that then asked, "But was I wrong?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment before he answered. "I don't know that it was right or wrong, the important thing is that there were other options, less dangerous to yourself.  But at the same time, I do thank you sincerely for what you did.  I would have liked it better if you had not put yourself in danger.  Still, I cannot deny that you did protect Hogwarts.  I just don't want you to take that the wrong way and try to do it again all on your own," Dumbledore smiled gently at Harry and left.  A few minutes later the door opened and Harry found himself in the very tight grip of his godfather

"Harry, what happened? Why did you use magic? What happened at the trial?"

"You mean Dumbledore didn't tell you?"

"No, witnesses cannot tell outsiders what they know until after the trial.  As I am not your guardian I am considered an outsider, not to mention the fact that I am a wanted man.  Now tell me!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize Dumbledore couldn't tell you.  I didn't want to get you worried."

"Harry, I'm your godfather, I am supposed to worry.  Now tell me everything before I wring your neck!"

Harry grinned, "Well I had a dream, the night before my birthday."  He told Sirius about it and then his decision the following morning and his conversation in the interrogation room with Dumbledore.

"Oh, Harry," Sirius said shaking his head, "you sweet, foolish hero.  How do you always manage to get yourself in these situations?"

Harry shrugged.

"So, what happened at the trial?"

"Well, I had to tell the judge everything.  I even had to tell him about the letter I'd been writing to you, but Mundungus Fletcher was the judge.    He said he knew about you."  Sirius nodded and waited for Harry to continue.  "In the end he said my reasons were justified under some law, and that if  Dumbledore wished, I could return here."

"So that's it? No other sentence?" Sirius asked relieved.

Harry scowled, "No.  He said that I had to see a professional wizard counselor twice a month."

There was a moment of silence, then Sirius said, "You don't like that very much, do you?"

"That's an understatement.  Why do I need to see a counselor?"

"Did Mundungus give you a reason?"

"Yeah," Harry said grumpily.

"Well, what did he say?" Sirius prompted him.

Harry sighed and sat back in his chair, "He said that I take too much on myself and that I need to learn how to trust the adults in my life."

Sirius wondered if he should say what he was thinking, he did, "I'd say that he was right."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Harry," Sirius said, a bit sharper that he meant to at Harry's rude tone.

"Sorry," muttered Harry.

"You always try to protect everyone else but you never let anyone protect you, nor do you take measures to protect yourself.  People who live like that tend to end up dead."

"They end up heroes," Harry shot back.

"Sometimes," Sirius conceded, " but nobody is asking you to be a hero.  You need to finish growing up and live your life, before you spend it on other people."

Harry had no answer to that.  Sirius hugged him.  Then, for the next hour they just talked about nothing and everything.  Then Dumbledore returned.  Following him was a woman Harry thought for sure he knew from somewhere.  She was tall, her slender frame accentuated by her rather-tight robes.  She had honey-brown hair that hung down to her waste and eyes the same color.

"Harry, this is Arabella Figg, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and she will also be counseling you.  Arabella, Harry." Dumbledore introduced them.  They shook hands.

Dumbledore handed him a piece of paper, "Here is your schedule.  Your teachers have been told to allow you to make up work.  Oh, and your wand." Harry took it, but he was still looking a Professor Figg, trying to place her.  "Now," continued Dumbledore, "when is the best time for you to meet with Arabella?"

Harry shrugged.

"I don't want to disrupt your weekends, so how does Friday afternoon sound?" Arabella asked.

"Sure," then, because he still couldn't think where he knew her from, he asked, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

She smiled and nodded, "I'm surprised you remember.  My mother is Mrs. Figg who lives a few streets from you.  I lived with her one summer, ten years ago.  You were over there often because the Dursley's were taking Dudley from one attraction to another for his fifth birthday."

"And you gave me some ice cream on my birthday. I remember that!" 

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "I believe Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are waiting eagerly for you in the Gryffindor Common Room.  Mr. Weasley noticed that your things had been moved into your dorm."

Harry jumped up, "See you Snuffles!" he said as he bounded out the door and hopped down the moving staircase.  

Running all the way to the Fat Lady's Portrait Harry stopped to catch his breath—then realized he didn't know the password.

"Why, hello Harry.  Nice to see you back! Where have you been?" She exclaimed.

"Um, busy.  How about just letting me in?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Uh-uh can't do that." She scowled at him for even suggesting it.

"Rats!"  Harry decided to go back to Dumbledore's office and ask for the password.  He was just turning when the portrait swung forward, revealing Hermione.

"Harry!" she squealed as she saw him.

"Harry?" Ron's voice came from Hermione, who had just attacked Harry with a hug.

"Where were you?  Dumbledore wouldn't tell us.  He only said that you might be here soon.  Then I saw your things in the room about an hour ago.  So when I caught Dumbledore in the hall I asked him and he said you'd be here today.  Where have you been?"  the words tumbled out of Ron's mouth.

"Slow down, I'll explain everything as soon as we get someplace private," Harry said, dreading the reactions he'd get from his two best friends.

"Well, Hagrid is gone until Monday, let's go to his hut," Hermione suggested.  Normally, Harry would have asked about this but he was presently too preoccupied with the impending confrontation.

The trio made their way through the castle and across the lawn, attracting a few startled looks from those noticing Harry.

They all settled around the table.  "well, where have you been?" Ron asked again, impatiently.

"I've been at the Ministry Facility for Juvenile Wizard Offenders." He said.

Hermione shook her head, and Ron let out a bark of laughter.  Then they both looked at him, waiting for him to tell them where he had really been.

Hermione spoke up first, "You're serious?"

Harry nodded.  Ron looked stunned.

"On my birthday I was expelled from Hogwarts for using magic.  I cast 18 spells so I was taken in to custody by the Ministry.  Today was my trial, my suspension was revoked and the charges were dropped."

"Harry, this isn't even funny.  If you dare say 'joke's on you' I will kill you with my bear hands."  Ron said fervently.

"No joke," Harry said looking him straight in the eye.

"Well?" Hermione asked.

"Well what?" Harry said.

"Don't give me that! You are going to tell us the whole story, right now!" Hermione looked ready to curse him.

Harry sighed and fiddled with his wand and then told them about the dream and his trial.  When he finished Ron and Hermione were both silent.  Then Hermione jiggled her head herself, "I don't know whether to shake you because of your stupidity, or hug you for your bravery."  Ron just nodded in agreement.

Harry shrugged.

"Was there no other sentence?" Ron asked.

"That's my business," Harry answered a little louder than he meant to.  Ron raised his eyebrows in surprise but didn't press the issue.

"Come on, let's go back up to the castle.  I have a lot of make-up work to do," Harry said heading for the door.

"I'm impressed.  Harry—eager to do work?" Hermione said dryly, following him.

"Funny.  Tell me about Professor Figg," Harry said, changing the subject.

"Oh, this year Defense Against the Dark Arts will be as good as with Lupin," Ron answered enthusiastically.

"Professor Figg was an Auror the first time You-Know-Who was in power.  After he fell she started a rehabilitation center for witches and wizards who had lost loved ones, or who had had horrible experiences.  She's a professional counselor and an Auror now." Hermione explained.

"Really?" Ron and Harry asked together.  Harry laughed, 'Don't tell me—you looked her up in the library, right?"

"No, she's in a book I bought this summer, called _The Years of the Dark Lord_."

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other.

That afternoon, Harry finished up about half the work he had missed and he finished the rest after dinner.

When classes started again on Monday he turned in all his summer work and make-up work.  Most of his teachers just accepted it, the exception being Snape, who looked like he wanted to have a bonfire with his parchment.

In classes Harry found that he was doing much better that he had the year before.  Those weeks of using the JWO library must have paid off.

His first defense against the dark arts class came Friday morning[1].  Harry was nervous, what if she mentioned his counseling?  He needn't have worried though.  After an intense lesson on wand-less defenses he decided that it would probably be his favorite class—though, despite Snape and the Slytherins, he had actually enjoyed Potions on Wednesday.

As he was leaving the class, Arabella pulled him aside for a moment, "meet me here, right after your last class," she said.

Herbology seemed to fly after lunch and Harry wondered exactly why he was dreading going to see Arabella so much.  He slipped away from Ron and Hermione and hurried to the defense against the dark arts room.

"There you are.  Follow me." Arabella led him to the back of the room to the storage closet; tapping it with her wand she said, "Ice mice perfected the Wronski Feint." Then she pulled open the door.  There was  no longer a storage closet there, but a comfortable looking sitting room.

"This is where we'll meet.  Just do as I did to enter." She said motioning him ahead of her, "If youever need to talk to me during the night, like if you've had another dream, knock on that door over there." She pointed to the other side of the room. "That leads to my private suite of rooms.  Have a seat."

Harry chose an armchair and Arabella sat down on a couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table.

"I know you don't exactly want to have counseling, but it might actually help you.  So give it a chance, ok?"

"Sure." Harry shrugged.

"Let me just tell you a little about myself first.  My mother was a muggle-born witch and my father was pure-blood.   I have one older brother and two younger sisters.  Katie, the youngest, is a squib.  I grew up next door to your father, Sirius lived on the other side of your dad's house.  We all started at Hogwarts the same year.  I had a crush on James for years, and Sirius had a crush on me at the same time.  Then James and Lily, became an item and I got over my crush.  Lily was my best friend.  Then I realized that Sirius liked me.  We were together from our fifth year until he went to Azkaban.  And, no," she answered the question forming in Harry's head, "so far we have not renewed our relationship.  Sirius is still not completely over Azkaban and, frankly, he has his hands full helping Dumbledore, dodging the Ministry, and trying to be your godfather, all at once.  Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"  she asked.

"You already know my story."

"Pretend I'm a complete stranger, then what would you say about yourself?"

"Are you muggle or magical?" Harry asked.

"How about Muggle first," Arabella said.

"Hi, my name is Harry Potter, I'm 15 and I go to St. Brutus' Secure School for Incurably Criminal Boys," Harry stuck out his hand and grinned.

"'St. Brutus' Secure School for Incurably Criminal Boys'?"  Arabella repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's where Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge I go."

"How about a magical introduction then?"

"Ok. Hi, I'm Harry Potter, I'm in my 5th year at Hogwarts.  I'm the seeker for the Gryffindor House Quidditch team."

"That's all you'd say?"

"Yup."

"You're obviously not one to boast about yourself."

"No."

"What's your favorite class here at Hogwarts? Or least favorite?"  Arabella asked.

"Well, if you'd have asked me that last year, I'd have answered that Potions was my least favorite.  I think I'm actually going to like it this year though. Defense Against the Dark Arts has been my favorite since third year—I didn't care for it first or second year.  I think Divination is my least favorite this year.  Trelawny is just an old bat.  She's only ever made two true predictions in her life.  I wouldn't even mind that she was a fake if she didn't predict my death every other class.  Third year she was constantly saying the Grim was stalking me."

"And?"

"I almost believed her because I kept seeing Snuffles, and he looks like a Grim." Harry suddenly started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I just realized something.  My Divination exam third year.  We were supposed to See something in a crystal ball.  I just made up that I saw Buckbeak, alive and flying away safely.  Which is exactly what happened.  I wonder if she ever gave me credit for my prediction coming true."

Arabella smiled and then asked, "Why do you like Potions this year?"

"Well, right now we're working on a unit where he tells us to make a potion with these certain attributes and we come up with the recipe based on our knowledge of what different ingredients do.  Of course, I'd never tell Ron that I'm actually enjoying Potions."

"Why not?"

"Because he'd go straight to Dumbledore and tell him I was having a nervous break down."

Arabella laughed and then changed the subject, "Did you tell Ron and Hermione about your summer?"

"Yes. Hermione said she didn't know if I was brave or stupid.  Ron was just kind of stunned."

"Did you tell them about meeting me for counseling?"

"No."

"Why not? You told them everything else." Arabella pointed out.

Harry shrugged.

"Harry, seeing me for counseling doesn't mean you're weak or can't handle your own life.   It means that you are like everyone else; you depend on other people."

"I don't like having to depend on other people.

"I know. It's understandable.  You grew up basically depending only on yourself.   But you need to realize that you aren't alone."

"But how can I depend on the protection of others, if they can't protect me?" Harry asked.

"Explain to me more."

"How can I depend on adults here when every summer I am sent back to the Dursleys? How can I depend on anyone when every time they've tried to protect me, it hasn't worked? First year, second year,  last year, the y couldn't protect me.  Third year the protection wasn't needed.  How can I depend on someone who, despite their best intentions, cannot fulfill the role they want me to depend on them for?"

"You have a very good point.  But Harry, dependence doesn't mean total dependence.  What you need to learn is how to recognize when you need an adult's intervention.  How much more could Dumbledore have protected you your second year if you had told him all you knew?"

Harry had never thought of that before.

"Think about it.  If you have anymore dream, I don't want you taking matters in to your own hands.  Just because the knowledge is given to you doesn't mean that the responsibility of doing something about it is yours too.  Your responsibility is to notify Dumbledore, or myself. Understood?"

Harry nodded.

"How about you come back next Friday afternoon.  If it is ok with you, I'd like to see you once a week until I get a feel for you.  Sound good?"

Harry nodded and stood to leave.

"By the way, you did a great job in class today.  You and Hermione were the quickest to catch on."

"Thanks." Harry said as he left and hurried down to dinner.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as he slipped between her and Ron.

"Sorry, I was asking Professor Figg about the stuff you learned last week.  I was having a bit of trouble," he lied quickly.

"Right, Harry.  You've been able to do the Patronus since third year.  And all we did was talk about the theory of mental force behind it," Ron said suspiciously.

Harry pretended not to hear and asked Neville to pass the potatoes.

  


* * *

[1] I mess around with the schedules  a lot, but hey author's prerogative!


	3. Three

Harry Potter and his Dreams

Chapter Three

Harry worked hard the next few weeks, getting higher scores than he was used to, which he enjoyed.  Defense Against the Dark Arts was difficult, but Harry was feeling better about wand-less defenses.  In potions one day Snape could find nothing wrong with the recipe for muscle relaxant he had made, and so he had to resort to taking points off for showing off.  Harry was even getting comfortable talking to Arabella.

Twice in October he had Voldemort dreams.  The first he had at night and told Dumbledore in the morning.  The Death Eaters had been instructed to raid the Ministry Library and retrieve a certain Dark Arts book, then destroy the building.  Dumbledore made sure that there were duplicate copies of all the books in the Ministry Library, especially the one the Death Eaters had been instructed to find, and let the disaster happen.  Dumbledore did it for two reasons, one, to let Fudge see that Voldemort was, indeed, back, and, two, to make sure Voldemort didn't know how much Dumbledore knew.  By the time he had his second dream, Harry had taught himself a spell to help him remember his dreams, so that they could be more helpful to the forces of light magic. It turned out to be a good thing, because the second dream, which he had after he fell asleep in History of Magic one day, was of Voldemort instructing his Death Eaters to capture, question, and then kill Mundungus Fletcher.

Mundungus Fletcher made an unscheduled visit to Hogwarts that night.  In the morning the _Daily Prophet_ headline read, "House of Prominent Judge Attacked, Ministry Believes May be Work of Sirius Black."  The Judge and Dumbledore conferenced throughout the day on how he should protect his house from then on.  He already had very great protections on his papers and sensitive files; he'd just never thought to put any serious protections on his home.

He managed to catch Harry after classes that afternoon, "Thank you, Harry.  You saved my life. You did the right thing, telling Arabella."

Harry shrugged and Mundungus grinned at him.

"You don't like being thanked, do you?" he asked.

Harry shrugged again, "It's not like I really did anything."

"Well, thank you anyway," Mundungus said as they walked down the hall.

"Harry!  There you are," Harry looked and saw Hermione and Ron coming towards him and the judge.

As they came even Harry introduced them, "Judge Fletcher, this is Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.  Hermione, Ron, Judge Fletcher."  Ron and Hermione both shook Mundungus' hand.

"Pleased to meet you.  I've heard a lot about your adventures," he said to them.

"From who?" Harry asked; he knew _he_ hadn't said anything.

"From Albus and," he glanced around quickly and lowered his voice, "Snuffles."

Ron's eyebrows shot up and Hermione grinned.

"What did you want me for anyway?" he asked his two friends.

"Actually Snuffles wants to see you.  Professor Figg said you should meet him in her sitting room.  You know where that is?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded.

"Do you mind if I come Harry? I need a quick word with Arabella." Mundungus asked.

"Come on.  Ron, Hermione, I'll meet you in the common room in a little while."

Harry led the judge to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and tapped on the door, saying the password. When they entered they found Arabella, Sirius and Remus Lupin on various pieces of furniture.

"Mundungus!" Remus exclaimed, "What are you doing here? I saw all the articles in this morning's papers."

"A, uh, timely warning from Harry brought me here. I've been here since yesterday.  I will be returning to me home as soon as the new protection spells are in place."

"So you've been having more dreams Harry?" the former professor asked.

Harry nodded and sat beside Sirius.

"Why don't we leave Sirius and Harry for a while," Arabella suggested.

"Arabella, I'd like to talk to you about…" Mundungus began as the three exited the room.

For half an hour Sirius and Harry just talked.  Harry was glad his godfather was there and said so.  Sirius said he was glad to be there.

Harry then returned to his dorm to work on his homework with Ron and Hermione. 

As they prepared for bed Seamus reminded everyone that they were going to start analyzing dreams in Divination the next day, so they were supposed to remember their dreams.

Harry fell asleep hoping that he didn't have another Voldemort dream.  No telling what Trelawney would do with _that_. 

He didn't.  But he did have something else. 

**************

"Now," said Trelawney the next day in Divination, " you will all share your dreams with me.  While you are waiting to tell me your dreams individually, I want you to try to interpret your own dream using Chapter 16 of _Unfogging the Future_."

Harry sighed and muttered the spell that would refresh the dream in his mind. He didn't know what it meant, or what he should do, but he did know that he was _not_ going to tell Trelawney about it.

As it happened Harry was the last one to talk to the professor.

"Now," she said in her wispy voice as he settled into a pouf across the table from her, "tell me what you dreamed last night."

"I didn't dream last night." Harry lied.

"Harry, you should not be afraid to share your dream. I saw you earlier use the charm to refresh the dream in your memory.  I have experience in dream reading.  Tell me about your dream."

"No."

"Harry," she was getting impatient, "you will tell me your dream or you will loose ten points for Gryffindor."

"Fine," Harry said and quickly got up as the bell rang to end class.

That afternoon, Arabella asked Harry to stay after Defense Against the Dark Arts.  They went into her sitting room.

"What is this about a dream you had last night?"  Arabella asked closing the door.

"How did you know about that?"

"Sybil was complaining quite vociferously in the staff room and I asked her. Why wouldn't you tell her your dream?"

"I didn't want to."

"Would it have done any harm to tell her?  I know it wasn't one of your Voldemort dreams because you would have come to me or Dumbledore about it."

Harry shrugged, "I didn't want to tell her my dream."

"Do you want to tell me about it?  It is obviously bothering you quite a bit."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Just…no."

"Ok, but you might want to tell Sirius about it if you don't want to tell me."

Harry nodded and left.

For the next week, Harry couldn't sleep well.  Every night he had more dreams and they were increasingly disruptive to his rest.  Ron tried to get Harry to tell him about his dreams but Harry brushed him off.  Finally, after discussing it with Hermione, Ron found Sirius and told him that Harry wasn't sleeping well.

  
*****************

"Harry." 

Harry looked up in surprise.  He'd just entered Arabella's sitting room but it was Sirius waiting for him instead of Arabella.

 "What are you doing here?"

"I asked Arabella if I could have a moment with you. Sit down."

Harry sat.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "You look like you haven't slept in a week, which, according to Ron, you haven't.  Plus, in your classes your attention is increasingly elsewhere.  You're not fine.  Why can't you sleep?"

Harry shrugged.

"Does it have to do with the dream you had last week?"

"It keeps coming back."

"Will you tell me about it?"

Harry shook his head violently.

"Why not?"

"Only I can know! Only I can do it!" Harry's eyes widened at the slip.

Sirius jumped on it, "Do what?"

Harry looked down, refusing to answer.

"Harry, are you planning on leaving the castle to do 'it,' whatever 'it' is?

Harry didn't answer.

Sirius didn't feel like this was the right time to push for answers so he changed the subject.

"Madam Pomfrey has agreed to fix you a sleeping potion.  I want you to drink it every night.  You need your rest."

Harry looked as if that were the last thing he wanted to do.

"And if you don't," Sirius continued smoothly, "you will spend every night in the infirmary where madam Pomfrey can ensure you get your rest."

"Fine, I'll take the bloody potion!" Harry said.

"And will you promise me you won't leave the castle?"

Harry didn't answer.  He stood up and walked toward the door.

Sirius pointed his wand at him and muttered, "_Circumage*._"

Harry found himself suddenly walking in the opposite direction, away from the door.

"Sit."

Seeing the somber expression on his godfather's face, Harry obeyed.

"I'm having trouble Harry.  You see, I want to be your godfather, your family.  I want to be there for you.  But how can I, if you keep pushing me away, if you don't let me get involved?  You said you liked me being near you; in your third year you said you wanted to live with me.  I'm not sure I want you to live with me if it is dangerous for you.  Unless you accept me as a parental figure then living with me would be dangerous.  If you don't let me in your life, tell me what is going on, trust me, how can we have the kind of relationship either of us wants?"

Harry looked down at his hands, trying to put what he wanted to say into words.  "I do trust you.  But there is something that I can't tell anybody, I have to do this, nobody else can.  I trust you to do all in your power to protect me.  That's why I can't tell you my dreams.  If I told you exactly what was going on, you'd try to solve it yourself and spare me.  But you can't solve it, only I can."

Harry stood and left, this time Sirius didn't stop him.  Arabella turned up a few minutes later.

"How'd it go?"

Sirius shook his head and the held it in his hands, elbows planted in his knees. "I'm so worried about that boy!  I care so much for him, but he doesn't let anyone care for him.  I want to be there for him, but neither of us seems to know where 'there' is.  Why can't he learn to trust adults?"

"Sirius, I know that you want to be his parent, but, from what I've seen, Harry may be incapable of letting anyone be that close to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry basically raised himself.  He did an amazing job and has turned into a wonderful young man.  However, he learned at a very young age that he had to depend on himself.  The Dursley's were no help to him and he never formed any bonds with his teachers.  He never even had a friend until he was eleven years old.  When he came to Hogwarts he found, for the first time, adults who cared what happened to him, and real friends.  He started to trust people and depend on them.  Then he found out that adults couldn't always protect him.  There were times where he found himself in dangerous situations, with no hope of an adult helping.  He learned once again that he could only rely on himself.   It hasn't really helped that he still spends his summers with the Dursleys.  The lessons that Harry learned as a child have been reinforced.  He may not be able to trust an adult enough to let you become his parent.  It might be that all he can do is let you be a close friend."

"Is there anything I can do to help him trust me like a parent?"

"Act like a parent."

"I already told him that he'd take a sleeping potion every night or he'd have to go to the infirmary where Madam Pomfrey can get him to sleep."

"That sound like a good start," Arabella allowed herself a small smile.

The Sirius told her his fear that Harry was going to try and leave the castle to do something.  "But how can we prevent him?" he asked, "Short of keeping him under lock and key, what can we do?"

"We'll have to ask Dumbledore about that.  He might have an idea.  Do you think it would be at all productive to tell Harry that leaving school grounds without permission is strictly against the rules and is punishable by detention, probation, suspension, or expulsion?"

"No, that wouldn't stop him one bit.  That is what makes him so infuriating.  He doesn't think about his own safety or well-being when he decides to take action."

* Circumage-pronounced with hard 'c's' and a hard 'g'—like 'kir-kum-ah-gay.' This is the correct Latin pronunciation. Literally, it is a command to go in the opposite direction.


	4. Four

Harry Potter and His Dreams

Chapter Four

Arabella, Dumbledore, and Sirius continued to worry about Harry, as did Ron and Hermione, who were increasingly alarmed at Harry's lack of concentration in class.

In mid-November an early snowstorm hit.  That night, by pure chance, Hermione and Ron found Harry, bundled up in his winter robes, with bag in hand, beside the statue of the one-eyed witch, about to open it.

"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded.

"Nothing," Harry said hurriedly, turning away from the passage, but wand still poised to tap it.

"That's right, you're doing nothing. You are going back to the Gryffindor common room right now," Hermione threatened him with her wand.

Harry, unhappily, complied.  He did _not_ want to end up on the wrong end of a hex from Hermione's wand.  He wasn't sure which one of them told, but the next morning (it was a Hogsmeade Saturday) he was summoned to Dumbledore's office.  When he entered he found Arabella, Sirius and the Headmaster all in a sitting room, adjoining the office.

"Harry," Sirius got straight to the point, "will you promise us you won't try and leave the castle?"

Harry looked at his hands, not answering.  Sirius lifted Harry's face by the chin and forced him to look at him. "Can you promise us you won't leave Hogwarts?"

"No," and he turned away from them to look out the window.

"Albus?" he heard his Godfather say.

There was a rustle of movement and then Harry found Dumbledore sitting in front of him.

"I thank you for being honest, and telling us that you could not make such a promise. However, since you cannot, and since you feel a …compulsion to perform a task you will not explain to us, Sirius, as your godfather, has asked me to use a spell to protect you.  

"This spell is sensitive only to you.  Every exit from the castle has been sensitized to you and your magic.  If you should attempt to leave, you would not be able to advance across the threshold and I will be notified immediately.  You can move freely, wherever you like inside the castle.  You will have a teacher escort and supervisor as you attend Quidditch practices and any class that takes place on the grounds.  They will be instructed to stun you, if necessary, to keep you from leaving the grounds.  I repeat, you are free to roam inside, but not outside. Do you understand?"  Dumbledore looked tired and worn, and as though doing this was the last thing he wanted to do.

Harry didn't answer at first.  He simply stood and went to look out a window that had a view overlooking the lake. "I understand," he replied in a quiet voice and left the room without another word.

For the next week Harry tried to leave via at least one exit each day.  He would try to walk outside but, as Dumbledore had said, he could not cross the doorstop.  He could move his body freely; he just didn't seem to be able to go in a forward direction. On Wednesday, on the way from Herbology to Divination, Professor Sprout almost had to stun him, because he looked like he was going to make a break for the Forbidden Forest.  Hermione and Ron ended up having to drag him back up to the school.

On Friday he had an appointment with Arabella.  He sat quietly on the sofa for a long while, just staring at the pattern.

Finally, Arabella decided it was useless to wait for him to do something and so she addressed him, "Dumbledore tells me that you've tried at least one exit each day this week.  Why do you want to leave so much?"

"I don't want to!" Harry answered in a frustrated voice, "I have to!"

"Why can't you tell someone else and let them take care of it?"

Harry shook his head, "I've told you, no one else would be able to.  Even if I could explain it, I'm the only one who could do it!"

"Then take someone with you!" Arabella pleaded.

"No! It would be too dangerous for someone to go with me."

"Has it occurred to you how dangerous it is to _you_?"

"I'll be fine," Harry dismissed the concern quickly.

Arabella attempted to get more answers out of him by coming at it from a different direction, "How have you been sleeping?"

"Better."

"Taking the sleeping potion?"

"Yes."

"Then why do you look like you could sleep for a week?"

Harry shrugged.

"Are you still not sleeping well?"

"I take the potion, but it doesn't work as well as it should.   Things still keep me awake."

"Have you had anymore dreams about Voldemort?"

"No."

Then Harry asked a question which startled Arabella, "Does 'all exits' mean _all_ exits, or only the ones Dumbledore knows about?"

"You won't find a path he doesn't know.  Sirius has told him all the passages he knows and Dumbledore knows even more.  I don't want you to go looking for any more exits.  I want you to tell someone exactly what this is all about."

"So it is only the ones Dumbledore knows about." And with that he quickly left the room. 

Arabella went straight to the headmaster. "Harry is getting more and more anxious to do this…what ever it is.  Do you think he might be able to find a passage that you are unaware of?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily, "I hope not.  I can't imagine that happening, but all the same, there is a small possibility.  Did Harry say anything new?"

"Not really."

"Is he having anymore dreams of Voldemort?

"No, but the sleeping potion seems to be loosing its potency, he isn't getting nearly enough sleep."

"I'll have Madam Pomfrey increase the dosage."

The next morning, Dumbledore was just coming down from his office when Ron came running in his too-short pajamas.

"Can't….find..H..Harry," He managed so squeak out, clutching a growing cramp in his side.

Dumbledore immediately took Ron up to his office and summoned Arabella and Sirius.

"Where have you looked for him?" Arabella asked him when she heard he was missing.

"Everywhere I could think of.  Then I noticed that his trunk was open.  His invisibility cloak and Firebolt are gone.  If he is actually using the cloak, I have no idea if he is still on the grounds or not."

Dumbledore quickly fumbled with the key to his desk drawer and, opening it, retrieved the Marauder's Map.  Activating it, he examined it thoroughly before groaning.  "He's not on Hogwarts property anywhere.  Ron, would you go down and open the door?  Hermione and Moaning Myrtle are approaching.  Bring them up here please."

Ron sprinted back down the moving staircase and opened the panel behind the Gargoyle just as Hermione came running up, Myrtle floating along behind her.

Back in Dumbledore's office, Sirius immediately asked her what was going on.  Hermione, at the moment trying to catch her breath, got out the word  "Bathroom" and motioned for them to ask Moaning Myrtle.  They all turned expectantly to the ghost, who drew herself up importantly.

"The passage way to the Chamber through my bathroom is open."

Ron's jaw dropped and Dumbledore moaned and put his head in his hands.  Neither Arabella nor Sirius understood though.

"What passage to what Chamber?" asked Sirius, clasping and unclasping his hands nervously at the thought of what terrible fate could befall Harry at any moment outside Hogwarts' protections.   

"The passage to the Chamber of Secrets, only Harry and You-Know-Who can open it because they are the only parseltongues," Hermione explained, now able to breath normally.

Sirius collapsed into a chair without saying a word.

Ron, trying to be logical about his best friend running off asked "But how do we know there is some way to get out through there?"

To everyone's surprise Myrtle answered the question. "Harry came into my bathroom this morning.  He told me not to tell anyone he'd been in there at least until after breakfast.  Then he took his broom and opened the sink up.  I followed him, invisible.  For an hour and a half I followed.  Then I turned and came back as quickly as I could.  There is a passage, but I don't know where it leads, it hadn't ended when I turned back."

"Thank you Myrtle," Dumbledore said heavily, "Could you please return to the passage and try and catch up with Harry?  If you catch up with him, try and convince him to come back.  If you can't, I want you to follow him wherever he goes."

The ghost looked pleased at being given such and important task and zoomed off through the wall.

"Sirius, take my invisibility cloak and the fastest broom you can find." Dumbledore handed him the silvery fabric, after putting it on, Sirius ran as fast as he could to the Quidditch Pitch and got a Nimbus 2000 out of the shed.  With that he made his way down to the Chamber of Secrets.

Ron and Hermione waited anxiously all that day.  Neither could concentrate in class.  Ron got a detention in Potions because he melted his cauldron and McGonnogall had to tell Hermione to mind what she was doing three times.

At dinner they saw Snuffles enter the Great Hall, head down and tail dragging.  Immediately Arabella and the Headmaster went to him; Ron and Hermione weren't far behind. Amidst the stares of students the group left the Hall.  Upon entering Dumbledore's office Sirius transformed and sat down in a chair, defeated.

"There is a passage in the Chamber of Secrets, through the mouth of the statue in there.  It took me five hours to get through to the end of the tunnel.  It would have taken less than three hours for Harry to make the same journey on his Firebolt.  The tunnel comes out about 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) south of here.  The passage itself is at least twice that long because of twists and turns and double-backs.   From the end of the tunnel I could find no trace of him.  He had a good three hour lead on me anyway," Sirius said in a very tired, beaten voice.

"Did you see Myrtle?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius shook his head. 

"What do we do now?" Ron asked.

The headmaster sat down heavily, looking as unlike his normal self as anyone could remember, "All we can do is wait."

So Sirius waited in his animagus form.  He didn't leave Dumbledore's office all that night or all the next day.  He curled up on the windowsill, wet nose pressed constantly to the window.  Dumbledore tricked him into drinking a sleeping potion that night.  After that he wondered around the castle forlornly all day, sniffing in odd corners and behind statues. He continued his roaming into the night and, around 4 am, finally curled up and went to sleep on a pile of cushions in the Charms classroom.

He awoke the next morning to Hermione shaking him. "Dumbledore wants to see you now!"

He jumped, scattering cushions everywhere, and bounded off to the gargoyle.  Professor Dumbledore was waiting for him at the entrance to his office.  He led him up the moving staircase, through his office, and into the sitting room.

Harry lay on a couch, asleep.  Sirius transformed and slumped to the floor, tears streaming down his face as he tried to act like an adult.

"I was watching the Marauder's Map this morning," Dumbledore explained, "and I saw him cross onto the grounds.  I met him and brought him here.  Miss Granger saw us and I asked her to find you.  He went right to sleep."

"Where was he?" Sirius finally asked.

Dumbledore sat down and turned expectantly to Moaning Myrtle, whom Sirius noticed for the first time.


	5. Five

Harry Potter and His Dreams

Chapter Five

The ghost began her tale.

"I did manage to catch up with Harry.  I couldn't convince him to return so I followed him.  He did _not_ like it at all, but, as he doesn't know any magic that will work against spirits, he really couldn't do a thing about it.  So he just told me to stay invisible and quiet.  He put on his invisibility cloak and he had already charmed his broom to be invisible.  I think he hoped that if he was invisible I'd loose track of him, but ghosts can always sense people, whether or not they are visible.  Anyway, he flew to a big house south of London.  It was really, really old. Nobody lived there, and I could tell it was covered with all sorts of spells.  Obviously they weren't to keep people out, because Harry just walked right in.  The door wasn't even locked. 

"He seemed to wander around, but I guess he knew what he was doing.  I followed him up to the third floor then through a door and up another flight of stairs.  He walked along hall after hall, making more turns than I can remember.  Down five flights of stairs, which should have been impossible because I _know_ he'd only gone up four, and we were on the first floor, I could tell by looking out the window.  He walked through another maze of corridors on the first floor and then up a flight of stairs, somehow ending up in the basement at that point.  Anyway, he opened a door and stepped into the attic, I think it must have been an attic room at the north end of the house.  

"Harry sat down on the floor and it looked like he was staring at someone or something, but I couldn't see anything special.  Anyway after a few minutes he crossed the room and picked up something out of a box sitting beside an old wardrobe.  Then he sat back down.  He must have sat there for two hours.  I tried to get his attention but he completely ignored me.

"Finally he stood up and went to the same door we had come in, only this time, instead of leading to the basement, he entered a bedroom.  I hadn't even realized it was that late, but he went to sleep as soon as he climbed in.

"He woke up around noon the next day and left through the attic door he had come through, except it came out at the front porch.  We went to a witch's house, situated on the north side of London.  He knocked on the door and when it opened there was a house-elf there, then the house-elf brought a woman to him.  They talked a bit, some bees were distracting me, and she invited him in.  He took a shower and ate there, and then they talked.  The witch knew how to keep me out of the room, so I couldn't hear what was said.

"When he left, I followed him to a camping ground a long ways away from London.  He was angry, evidently the witch wouldn't do a spell so he could get away from me completely.  It was dark when we got there.  Harry hid in the bushes.  Around 9 o'clock twenty hooded men gathered around a boulder a few feet away.  I got up close to see what was going on.

"Anyway, one of them tapped the boulder and it started glowing red.  They were receiving instructions from You-Know-Who.  They were supposed to attack Tutshill in the morning.  After they left, Harry approached the boulder.  He shattered it with his wand and the picked up a red gem that had been at the heart of it, I think.

"I told him what I had heard and he got a look of deep concentration on his face, as though he were arguing with himself.  Then he flew to Tutshill and slept in an alley.  In the morning he cast a spell at each end of the main road, but he wouldn't tell me what he had done.  Then he mounted his broom and flew off again.

"We ended up at that big house again.  This time he entered through a side door.  It took four hours this time, going up and down stairs and through the mazes of hallways.  I remember we were up on the fifth floor and then he opened a door and we were in the basement.

"In that basement room he took something out of a dresser drawer.  He found a bedroom, like he had before and went to sleep.  In the morning, he sped as fast as he could north.  I didn't know for sure where he was going until he actually crossed onto Hogwarts grounds."  Myrtle finished her summary.

"Thank you very much, Myrtle.  I appreciate what you have done.  If there is anything you need, don't hesitate to ask, I will gladly repay you for the service you have performed." Dumbledore said solemnly.  The ghost, delighted that she had played such an important role, flushed slightly and then said that, for now, she would just return to her toilet.

Sirius spoke up as soon as she had left, "Where was he? What was that house?"

"House Labyrinth," Dumbledore summoned a house-elf and requested that food be brought and a change of clothes for Mister Potter.  When the house-elf had gone to do his duty, Dumbledore gave a better explanation to Sirius.

"House Labyrinth has existed for as long as Hogwarts, if not longer.  If you want to hide something for a time, you can just leave it on the doorstep of House Labyrinth and ask the house to hide the item.  More than five hundred powerful magical artifacts are though to be hidden in there.  The down side of the house is that it decides what to do with the artifacts it conceals.    The house, true to its name, turns into a labyrinth, an impossible maze.  It is not hard to enter an leave the house, as Harry found, if you need to sleep, you can easily find a bedroom, if he had thought about it, he could have found the kitchen, when he needed to exit the next door brought him to the front porch.

"However, only by following a specific combination of halls, turns, stairs and rooms can you actually find an artifact.  If Harry had gotten to that attic room by any other route, he would not have found anything there.  Very few people have ever left that house with anything they did not go in with.  Those who have describe it as 'The Call of House Labyrinth,' it compels them to go to the house and find whatever artifact is calling to them and it directs them to exactly the place they need to be to find what they are fetching.  This is what I mean by the house decides what to do with the artifacts, sometimes it is the house that calls for someone to fetch an artifact, sometimes it is the item itself.  There is no guarantee that anything hidden in the house will remain there longer than ten years.  Maybe the item has been sitting there too long, or maybe the house just knows who is supposed to possess the item next, nobody knows.  Anyway, as I said, when the call comes you know exactly how to find the item that is calling.

"The only known occurrence of anyone being called to House Labyrinth in the past 200 years is when Alastor Moody retrieved his magical eye.  He had that eye in his possession fifty years before he lost his own.  Just after he graduated from Hogwarts he went to the house."

"But," Sirius said as the food-leaden house-elves entered the study, "if you can only go certain paths for certain things, can't someone just pick a random route and pick up whatever is in the room they end up in?"

"No," the headmaster shook his head as he made space for the food tray; once the house-elves had left he continued, "You have to know what you are seeking and only then will you find it.  There could have been a thousand things hidden in those rooms Harry entered, but he could not have found them, even if they had been sitting in the middle of a bare floor, he could only find what had called to him.

Occurrences of anyone finding something without hearing the call are even more rare than someone hear the call.  To my knowledge, it has happened only twice in the history of the world.  The first was in the year 1257 and the second was in 1873.  I grew up in that area.  I would often go to House Labyrinth; it fascinated me.  I spent hours there, trying to find an artifact, but I never found one.  

"I was walking around the house one day, concentrating on my Potions assignment for the summer, not even searching, that time, for anything, when something landed on my shoulder.  It was an ugly, ugly bird, scrawny too.  But I took it home with me.  Two weeks later we found out it was actually a phoenix.  Fawkes has been with me ever since."

Sirius nodded at this and glanced at the beautiful fowl before asking, "But what called to Harry?  Why Harry in the first place?  Why did he go twice?"

Dumbledore sighed, "We'll have to wait for Harry to wake up to explain that."

"I'm awake," Harry said softly from the couch on which he lay.

Both Sirius and Dumbledore turned and rushed over to him.

"Harry, you have a lot of explaining to do."  Sirius said in a deceptively mild voice.

"I know.  I'll answer all your questions after I eat and get cleaned up," he replied meekly.

Dumbledore moved the food tray closer to Harry.  The boy ate in silence, under the very watchful eyes of the headmaster and his godfather, as though, if they turned away, he might disappear again.

When he had finished Dumbledore quietly led him to his own suite and let him use his private shower.   Sirius kept his eyes on the door of the room Harry had gone into while Dumbledore went into his office and rummaged through his desk.

By the time Harry returned, refreshed an din clean robes, the food tray had been moved to a different location and across the table a piece of parchment was spread, a bottle of ink sitting beside it.

"Harry," Dumbledore asked in a relaxing voice, "do you mind if what you say is recorded?"  Harry sat down across from the two men who, for weeks, had only wanted to help and protect him.

"Fine," Harry consented.

"Will you also take a truth potion?"  The headmaster asked in an even milder voice.  Harry looked at him startled, "Do I have to?"

Dumbledore nodded, no twinkle glinting in his eyes, "For an rule infraction of this magnitude, it is required."

Harry did not argue, but accepted this with a nod.

Dumbledore retrieved a vial from inside his robes and handed it to Harry, "This is similar to the truth potion you were given at your trial.  Drink all of it."

Harry did so and immediately felt its effects in his body.

Dumbledore dumped the entire bottle of ink onto the parchment, which was immediately absorbed.

"This parchment will create a written and audio account of everything you say once it is activated.  Are you ready?"

Harry nodded.  Dumbledore tapped the parchment and then sat back and indicated for Harry to start.

Harry sighed, "It started with that dream I had two weeks before Halloween."


	6. Six

Harry Potter and His Dreams

Chapter 6

Just so nobody gets confused, this portion is told from an as-its-happening point of view, not a summary narrative like Myrtle's explanation was.

The differences between this account and Myrtle's account are differences in perspective. Harry's account is strictly true (well, duh, as I said in the last chapter, he is under a truth potion), Myrtle's contained inaccuracies because she did not understand what was going on.

Harry was flying faster that he had ever flown on his Firebolt; he looked down and saw that the broom he was riding was not a Firebolt, but a broom with the word "Seeker" emblazoned on it.  He found himself approaching a menacing forest.

"So," a voice startled him at his ear.  He found himself now standing beside his floating broom on the edge of a precipice overlooking the forest.  Ron was standing beside him and was the one that had spoken, he now continued, "are you going to fly on in? Or are you going to just stand here forever?"

"Um…" Harry said thinking about the quest that lay before him, to find the Holy Grail at the center of the wood, "sure, I'll go in, if you come with me."  He looked at his friend, and realized that Ron was two feet taller than him and was sporting a head of blond-streaked with blue- hair.

"Harry, you know he can't help you! That's cheating.  Besides," sniffed a Hermione dressed in a green and silver sleeveless evening gown, "Ron has a Quidditch game to go to."

"Fine," Harry answered grumpily, mounting his broom, "count to three."

"One," his two best friends said in unison, "two…three!"

Harry kicked off and found himself suddenly falling through a very dense fog, without a broom under him anymore.

When he landed he did not hurt himself, which surprised him since he had fallen from such a great height.  He tried to look around at where he was, but he could neither see nor feel anything surrounding him, save the smooth surface he stood on.  He _could_ however, hear.

"Hello?  Is anybody there? Can anybody hear us?  Are we lucky enough to be heard this time?" A woman's voice cut through the darkness.  She sounded completely hopeless.

"Why am I even bothering?  I mean, it has never worked in the past 27 years, why should it work now? Of course Claudia, you're bothering because it is your turn to bother," the woman, obviously named Claudia, continued answering her own question, "Why does it matter though? There is no hope! We'll never get out, never! The spell won't break for years after he's dead, that is, if he dies.  And of course, no one can ever hear us as long as the spell is in place."

Harry stood in confusion, he was no longer in the dream with the Holy Grail, he knew.  He had felt the difference falling through the fog.  This was real.  But the only other real things that had happened in dreams had been Voldemort, and this certainly wasn't one of those dreams.

"If anybody is there would you please speak up and quote a line from Shakespeare?" said Claudia.

Silence.  Harry frantically racked his brains for a quote from Shakespeare.  What did he know of Shakespeare?

"I didn't think so," Claudia said, sounding as excited as a funeral director.

"Err..To be or not to be?" Harry stammered, remembering something from his muggle grade school.

"WHAT?" came a screech.

"That is Shakespeare, isn't it?" Harry asked nervously.

"Oh, great," mumbled Claudia to herself, "you've finally cracked.  Now you're hearing voices in your own head."

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Harry asked politely.

"Arrrgh!" Claudia said, "Are you really there?"

"Yes."

"You can actually hear me?"

"Well, I'm talking to you aren't I?"

"How is this possible?  That we can communicate?  Unless…Is Voldemort gone?" she asked hopefully.

Harry laughed bitterly, "Not hardly, he's back and stronger than ever."

There was a slight pause, "You're going to have to explain that further, but for right now, I have a more important question: Is Albus Dumbledore still alive?"

"Um…yeah," Harry answered cautiously.

"Positive?" Claudia asked severely, mistaking his caution for being unsure.

"Unless he's died since dinner," Harry said in irritation.

"Wait a second, he was a dinner? Where are you?"

"Currently? My bed in the fifth year boys' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower at Hogwarts."

"How did this happen?" Claudia wondered more to herself than wanting a real answer, she continued, this time addressing Harry "Can you tell me something else?"

"What?"

"Do you know James Potter?"

Harry was so stunned he couldn't answer.

"Hello?" Claudia said after a moment of silence, "Do you know where James Potter is? Can you find him and speak to him?"

"N.. no, I can't," Harry finally got out.

"Huh? Why not?"

"J..James Potter was murdered by Lord Voldemort fourteen years ago."

Now it was Claudia's turn to be stunned, then she started to cry.

"I promised him," she sobbed, "I told him that after I died I'd still be able to communicate with him! Curse Voldemort!  James! He was only twelve!"  She cried for a few more minutes, then, regaining her composure, she asked Harry, "Can you tell me about him? What do you know of James Potter?"

"Ma'am," Harry said hesitantly, "James Potter was my father."

"What!?"

"My name is Harold James Potter, James Potter an Lily Evans were my parents."

"Who is Lily Evans?" asked Claudia; not completely comprehending all that this visitor was telling her.

"Lily Evans was a muggle born witch."

"Was?" Claudia echoed faintly, "so they are both dead now?"

"Yes."

"And all of James' old friends? What about them?" Claudia asked reluctantly.

"You mean like Sirius Black?"

"Yes!" Claudia answered hopefully.

"Well, Sirius Black is currently an escaped convict.  He's been on the run from the Ministry for the past two years, ever since he broke out of Azkaban."

"You're lying." Claudia said flatly, "Sirius may have been mischievous, but he'd never commit a crime!"

"Maybe, maybe not." Harry said evasively, not quite sure yet who exactly he was talking to and therefore not wanting to give her any information.

"You are going to explain more about that later, too.  Tell me about James' other friends." Claudia commanded.

"Remus Lupin is unemployed, though he did teach Defense Against the Dark Arts two years ago at Hogwarts."

"Why is he unemployed?"

"Werewolves have a hard time getting jobs."

"Remus is a _werewolf_?"

"Yes."

"I sure have missed a lot, haven't I?"

"Actually, Remus Lupin has been one since before he started at Hogwarts."

"Humph.  Go on tell me more about James' friends."

"Arabella Figg became an Auror and later a counselor, and is now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.  That's all I know of my father's friends."

"What about Peter Pettigrew?"

"Peter Pettigrew was no friend of my father's!" Harry said vehemently.

"Whoa, calm down. How about Severus Snape?"

"What? Severus Snape, that slimy git! He and my father were friends at one time?"

"Well, yes, they were best friends as little boys.  I gather from your response that he has never told you of their friendship."

"Snape has never told me anything about my father other than that he was arrogant because of a little talent on the Quidditch field.  Then he tells me I have detention.  Snape teaches Potions."

"Ok, now you are going to fill in the blanks of all this," Claudia said sternly.

"No way, first you tell me who you are and why we're here talking in the first place," Harry demanded.

Claudia sighed, "Well, okay. Harry…I'm your grandmother."

"You're my grandmother," Harry repeated.

"Yes."

"My grandmother?"

"Yes, Claudia Robertson Potter.  I was James' mother."

Harry, unable to really think about this fact for the moment, stored it away in his brain for future reference and asked Claudia a question, "Why did you ask about Dumbledore first?"

"He gets the stones next.  I had to know if he was alive."

"What stones?"

"Have you ever heard of the Wizard's Amulet?"

"No."

"It is an amulet made of three stones, one for power, one for knowledge and one for wisdom.  It passes from person to person, but each time the current holder dies all the power wisdom and knowledge of that witch or wizard are taken into the stone.  We call to the next owner.  Dumbledore is the next owner.  However, after I died Voldemort got a hold of the stone.  He couldn't use the amulet, nor did he have enough power to destroy it.  So he did the next best thing, he silenced us and broke apart the three stones, hiding them in separate places.  For a long time only he could hear us, and then, it seemed, nobody could hear us."

"Wow, but now I can hear you.  I'm guessing that Voldemort could hear you also if he really wanted to."

"Yes, but I'm still not clear on why you _can_ hear us."

"I think I have an idea as to why I can."

"Really? What?"

Harry was about to answer when his alarm clock rang. "Sorry!" he said hastily, "I'll talk to you later, I have to go to breakfast and then classes."

And then he woke up.

All during breakfast Harry pondered the dream.  He decided to tell no one about it.  Had anyone even heard of the Wizard's Amulet?

"Harry?" said a voice at lunch.

"What?" Harry jumped in surprise.

Everyone looked at him strangely.

"Did somebody say my name?"

"No. Are you feeling alright?" asked Ron to his right.

"Fine. I…just…uh…was daydreaming and thought I heard someone call my name." Harry stammered.

_It will be easier if you just answered in your thoughts.  That way your friends won't think you're completely off your rocker,_ said the same voice as before, which Harry recognized as his grandmother.

_You scared me!_ Answered Harry, gulping down some pumpkin juice, _So, we can talk even when I'm not dreaming?_

_Obviously._

_Very funny, what do you want_, asked Harry selecting a Ham biscuit for himself.

_Well, the others won't believe me, so do you mind if I introduce you to a couple of them?_

_Only a few, I have to go to class soon._ Harry answered, picking up a turkey biscuit this time.

_Okay, first, the man who created the Amulet and was the first one to put himself into it, Merlin._

_Merlin!_ Harry's eyes widened.

"You ok mate?" Ron asked, thinking Harry had choked.

"Fine," Harry answered quickly.

_Harry? Can you really hear us?_ This was a very deep voice.

_Er…yes sir._ Harry answered nervously.

_Now the quartet, you can get to know them later, but for now they just want to affirm that there is an open communication link,_ his grandmother spoke up again.

_Hello!_ Came a chorus of voices

_Hi, pleased to meet you!_ Harry answered, selecting some pudding.  

He got to meet a few more people before he had to rush off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Harry found it hard to concentrate and he knew Arabella had noticed because she talked to him after class.  He didn't tell her about the stones and the people talking to him in his dreams and in his waking moments. However, that night as soon as he fell asleep, they were there.

"Hello again Harry!" said his grandmother, "Now I want you to meet the quartet for real."

"Okay," Harry shrugged.

"I'm Rowena Ravenclaw"

"Salazar Slytherin."

"Helga Hufflepuff."

"Godric Gryffindor."

"Abud…mbu...nypt." was Harry's response

"Very articulate, would you like to try again?" said Helga

"You're the four founders!" Harry yelled.

"Very good!" said Godric.

"Whoa," was all Harry could respond with.

"Man of few words," observed Rowena.

"Harry," whispered Claudia, "you're being rude to my friends."

"I…I'm pleased to meet you. I'm sorry, I just never expected…I mean you're legends!"

"Well, famous people are still people," said Salazar reasonably.

Harry laughed, "Don't I know it!"

"What do you mean by that?" Rowena pounced on it.

"Calm down, let him get used to us!" Helga said commandingly.

"Tell us about yourself," said Godric, trying to put him at ease.

"Well, I'm in my fifth year at Hogwarts, I'm in Gryffindor, although the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin at first."

There was a snort from Salazar and a noise of approval from Godric.

"So, how are things going at the old castle?" Rowena asked, "Has anything interesting happened in the past twenty-seven years?" there was a challenge in her voice as though daring Harry to find something that interested her.

"Oh, I wouldn't say nothing interesting has happened, in fact my first four year have been much more exciting than I am comfortable with," Harry answered the challenge dryly.

"Like what?" Rowena asked.

"Let me see, fourteen years ago Voldemort lost his power. You need to know…"

"What! You told me he was still alive!" Claudia cut in indignantly.

"I'll explain it! As I was saying, you need to know that he fell in 1981 to understand some happenings at Hogwarts.  My first year, Voldemort was sharing a body with the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  My second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened and the basilisk was petrifying people.  My third year, an escaped convict was heading for Hogwarts and dementors were guarding the school.  Last year, the Triwizard Tournament was held and a student died and Voldemort regained his body."

There was complete silence.

"I think," Rowena said after a while, "it is safe to say I was wrong."

"Looks like this year won't be too much different," Harry said, "it seems like I can never have a normal life!"

"Explain now! Harrison James Potter," Claudia demanded.

Harry sighed and told them the events of Halloween 1981, "There was a thirteen year respite, but Voldemort rose again last June." Harry concluded quietly.  

"But," Helga said, "I still don't understand why we can communicate with you now.  Common sense says that the most likely time for any type of communication would have been while Voldemort was weak, not when he has just regained his powers."

"Well," Harry took a deep breath, "Voldemort used my blood to create his new body.  That is why I can communicate with you, we are connected." Harry explained, without really going into the details of the Third Task.

"I'm sorry," Salazar said.

"Pardon me?"

"Well, he is my heir after all.  However, let me explain something.  I've had to tell this to every owner of the stones since the twelfth century.  Your history books are skewed.  I did protest the admittance of Muggle-borns to Hogwarts, however I was overruled.  I was upset for a long time and unfortunately I passed those sentiments on to my son, Salazar the Second.  Eventually I saw reason and realized that there was no good reason to keep the muggle-borns out.  My son, however," Salazar sighed, "I taught him too well.  It was ingrained and he made no attempt to change his prejudice against muggle-borns.  He resented them, especially after a certain muggle-born witch began to show him up at every turn.

"I died attempting to deliver some muggle-born students to the school.  It was very dangerous in those days.  My son took my place on the Hogwarts staff, however, he felt I never received the recognition I deserved and blamed my death on Muggle-borns.  He became bitter and wanted revenge, so he created the Chamber of Secrets.  He was a parseltongues, like myself.  He swore that all the heirs of Slytherin would honor me and cleanse Hogwarts in retribution for my death."

Harry was surprised and a bit skeptical; this was all too convenient, for Salazar Slytherin to be a good guy after all.

"I swear it!" Salazar said, sensing his doubt.

"I'll attest to its truth," Godric spoke up.

"Okay then, let's just rearrange Harry's world.  Anyone else want to pull the rug out, while I'm already down?" Harry joked to ease the tension and let them know he believed.

Over the next few nights Harry revealed his past, his story, to his grandmother and whoever else wanted to listen.  The founders were there most nights; Merlin came once or twice.

Claudia, in turn, explained that they needed his help in retrieving the stones and delivering them to Dumbledore.

"But I know that if I tell anyone they'll try and stop me.  They'll think it's too dangerous!" argued Harry one night.

"Harry." Claudia said, frustrated, "you should tell Dumbledore! He'll understand."

"Look, Grandma, the fewer people who know, the less chance there is that Voldemort finds out about me attempting to retrieve the Amulet."

"Tell Dumbledore!"

"Frankly, you can't make me.  I know them, okay? Only I can do what needs to be done and if someone else is with me, I won't be able to act as you direct.  Like you've explained, once I have the first stone I'll be perfectly safe because I can draw on your power temporarily to protect myself."

Claudia sighed, "If I weren't already dead, Dumbledore would kill me for this once he finds out.  I see your point."

They discussed over and over how Harry would proceed, the order of retrieving the stones and when he should leave Hogwarts.

"Soon, Harry, you have to do it soon.  If what you have told us is true, Dumbledore needs all the help he can get."

Harry tried a few nights later, but Ron and Hermione caught him trying to leave through the tunnel to Honeydukes.

"We've got a problem," he said when he got a chance to speak to his grandmother again in his sleep.  He explained Dumbledore's precaution.  He kept trying different exits all week, but he couldn't leave the castle.

"Grandma, ask the quartet if they know of any other secret passages out of Hogwarts."

"Sorry, Harry I don't know any," Salazar said.

"Godric, Helga, Rowena?" Harry asked.

None of them knew any other passages.  Then Rowena had an idea.

"Could there be a secret passage through the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Salazar, do you know?" Claudia asked.

"There could be," Salazar said in a tone that suggested a shrugging figure.

"Godric?" asked Harry, thinking that perhaps he might know more because he had died last of the four.

"Well," the founder of Harry's own house mused, "Salazar's son used to leave for days at a time, leaving without warning for me to find a replacement teacher.  I never saw him leaving or returning and he _was_ the only Parseltongue.  I think it's worth a go."

"Grandma," Harry said, "wake me up early tomorrow morning, please.  I'll try in the morning." He thought a moment and then sighed, "If this doesn't work, I will go to Dumbledore tomorrow afternoon and explain the entire thing to him and hope he'll let me go."

*************

Harry crept silently from his dorm, his now invisible Firebolt in one hand, wand in pocket and Invisibility Cloak draped over him.  Stealing silently through the halls and down stairs he made his way to the girl's bathroom.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" Myrtle exclaimed, floating out of her stall in surprise as Harry removed his Cloak and moved towards the sink.

"Myrtle, please don't tell anyone I've been here!"

The ghost of the young girl frowned, "What are you doing?"

"Something I have to do.  Please don't tell anyone Myrtle!" with that, Harry opened the pipe and, mounting his broom, dove into the tunnel he had opened.  Maneuvering carefully he made it past the caved-in section and then to the giant doors, "Open!" he commanded in Parseltongue.  He held his breath and flew straight to the statue of Salazar Slytherin so that he would not have to smell or see the decaying basilisk corpse that still lay on the floor.  

"Speak to me Slytherin!" 

_Oh, right, just leave off the 'greatest of the Hogwarts four part,' yeah, thanks, love you too Harry,_ Salazar said.

"When I said speak to me, I did not mean you!" Harry grumbled as the mouth of the statue opened.  He flew in.

"Grandma, there is a tunnel.  I'm not sure where it leads, or if it even leads out, but I can try it."

_Be careful Harry.  If you get hurt, I will never forgive myself, or you for that matter!  I still can't believe you refuse to tell Dumbledore._

Harry ignored the last part of her comment and flew down the long, dark, winding passage.  After about 2 ½ hours of flying very cautiously so as not to fly into a wall Harry found the end of the tunnel.  It opened out into a shallow cave settled in a forest.

Before stepping out Harry put on his invisibility cloak and activated the shrinking charm he had put on earlier; the less he used his wand here, the better.  As soon as he was discovered missing he knew they would try and track his wand in case he did any magic.

"Harry!"

He was so surprised at this disembodied voice at hid ear that he tripped on a rock and fell down.  He flailed about wildly for a moment before managing to regain his upright position.  Guardedly he looked around, he saw nobody.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" Myrtle appeared at his elbow, causing him to stumble backwards, "I followed you.  Then I went back and told Dumbledore. He told me to catch up with you again."

Harry scowled, "I told you not to tell anyone.  Now go back!"

"Only if you come with me," she said, quite unlike her normal self.  The responsibility she had been given had, at least for the time being, erased her brooding disposition.

"No, I will not go back right now.  Go tell the Headmaster I'm fine." Harry readjusted his Invisibility cloak and turned away from the ghost.

"Nope, I'm following you if you don't come back. Then if anything happens, at least there'll be a witness."

"Great," muttered Harry sarcastically.

_What's wrong Harry?_ His grandmother asked.

_Oh, we've just got a ghost following us. Is there any way to make her go away?_

_Not really, why is she following you anyway?_ Asked Claudia curiously.

_Dumbledore ordered her to follow me._ Harry thought in frustration.

_Smart man._

_Tch._

Harry ignored Myrtle and mounted his broom, making sure he couldn't be seen nor his broom under the invisibility cloak, and followed the directions his Grandmother was telling him to House Labyrinth. 

When he got there his grandmother said _Remember, do **exactly** what I say._

_I know!_ Harry responded, exasperated.

He then followed her instructions through the house. It took a few hours.  Finally, though, he opened a door and found himself looking at a middle-aged witch.  She had long dark-brown hair that was perfectly straight.  She had blue eyes and was rather short.

"Welcome Harry," she said and Harry nearly jumped as he recognized the voice.

_Grandma?_

She nodded and smiled, "You are so close to the power stone that I can project this image. I'm not actually here, I am only in your mind, not a physical entity."

_Where's the stone?_

"On the ledge, across the room."

Harry crossed the attic room and picked up the yellow and whit marble stone.  He could feel the power inside, pulsing. For the rest of the day he conversed with his grandmother, learning more about his father's childhood.

_Grandma, _he asked at one point, _what did you mean when you said that Snape and my father were once friends? How could they have been friends? They hated each other in school!_

"Well, for some reason, my husband Tyler Potter wanted them to be friends, even though the Snape Potter lines have always been big rivals. He used to invite Severus over and the two of them would have the best time together. I guess after I died their friendship took another turn."

After a while Harry yawned and realized he was very tired.

_Where am I supposed to sleep?_

"Just open the door you came in, it will lead to a bedroom."

Harry did so and found a quite comfortable room with a four-post bed more luxurious than his Hogwarts bed.  He promptly crashed and fell asleep.

The next day he quickly left House Labyrinth.

_What do I say to her?_ Harry thought nervously.

_Don't worry.  Maria was my best friend and one of the few who knew I possessed the amulet.  She was carrying it with her to take to Dumbledore, but she was attacked and it was taken_.

_And you're sure she is still alive?_

_Yes!_ Claudia Potter said fiercely, _she has to be. She can help us figure out how to break the spell because she was there when it was hidden and she was always very good at charms._

Arriving at a large Manor in London that Harry knew must have been invisible to Muggles, he knocked on the door.

"Yes?" a house-elf answered, opening the door.

"I would like to speak to Maria Townsend Black, please."

The house-elf's eyes widened and she ushered him in quickly.

"Wait here!" she squeaked and scampered off, leaving him standing in the entrance hall that was probably the same size as the entire downstairs of the Dursley's house.

A few minutes later an older witch entered.  She had graying hair and appeared to be just as severe as Professor McGonnagall.

"Who are you?" she asked bluntly.

"Mrs. Black?" Harry asked, holding out a hand to shake.

"How do you know my married name? I haven't gone by that since…well for fourteen years!" She looked scared; she didn't reach to shake his hand.

"I apologize, I can call you Mrs. Townsend, if you prefer."

She looked very startled, wondering how this young man knew her maiden name and married name when she had never met him before.

"No," she calmed herself a bit, "you can call me by my married name. I just haven't used it since my son…." She trailed off and looked at her visitor expectantly.

"So Sirius is your son?" Harry asked connecting the clues that his grandmother had not bothered to do herself.

"Who are you?" she asked, getting agitated again.

"Sorry, Harry Potter," he extended his hand once again to shake.

She stared uncomprehendingly at it for a while and then her eyes drifted up to Harry's forehead.  Harry sigh, retracted his hand, and used it instead to move aside his bangs.

Mrs. Black sat down abruptly on a bench in the hallway.

"Are you here to claim retribution against my family, for your parents?" she asked, sounding as though this was her only hope of salvation.

"No, I'm here for a completely different reason.  I need your help with something."

"What?" Mrs. Black asked, doubt filling her voice.

"How did Voldemort conceal the Wizard's Amulet?"

Mrs. Black's eyes widened in shock, this was most definitely _not_ what she had been expecting.

"I need to know so that once I have all the stones I can remove the spell."

"B…but nobody can find the stones! He silenced them and hid them!"

"They aren't silenced to me.  I can hear them.  Claudia, my grandmother, told me that you were carrying the Amulet to Dumbledore when you were attacked and they were stolen.  You must have an idea of what spells he used!"

"I can help you figure out how to undo the spell he did." She answered finally.

"Thank you." Harry paused a moment and then asked, "Er…can I use your bathroom and shower?"

"Certainly.  When was the last time you ate?" she added when his stomach gave a tremendous rumble. 

"Dinner, night before last."

"I'll make some food while you go get cleaned up. The bathroom is that way, up the stairs, first door on the left."

Harry nodded and turned in the direction she was pointing, and then he remembered something and turned back, "By the way, there's a ghost following me. Her name is Myrtle.  If she pops up just ignore her.  She knows I'm mad at her for following me."

After Harry had showered and dressed in his robes again, which the house-elves had cleaned, the two ate.

Harry and Maria Black then moved into the living room and started discussing spells to reveal hidden things.

"I think," Mrs. Black said after a while, "that your best shot is a tailor-made spell with as much power as you can manage. I assume you have not yet learned magical theory?"

Harry shook his head.

"Well then, I can't explain it to you all now, but just when you do a spell, it does what you expect you to do. So in a tailor made spell, you have to bend all your power and will those words to come true.  Does that make sense?"

"I guess." Harry shrugged a little.

They spent the rest of the next hour coming up with words for Harry to use for an incantation.

"Thank you, Mrs. Black. Please, do me one more favor."

"What?"

"Don't write and tell Dumbledore or anybody about me being here. As soon as I get the other two stones I can return and tell Dumbledore everything. But until then…you're the only one who knows what I am doing.  If an owl gets waylaid…I just don't want Voldemort to get wind of what I'm attempting." Harry silently reminded himself that he was glad Mrs. Black was one of the witches who sided with Dumbledore and believed that Voldemort had returned.

"What!" Harry looked at Mrs. Black, startled. She suddenly looked very angry, "Do you mean to tell me that you _left_ Hogwarts _without permission_ and that Dumbledore is _still_ unaware of your whereabouts?

"Correct, Ma'am." Harry said, his face flushed as he realized it probably would have been better if he had not even addressed this subject.

"You're as bad as…." She stopped mid-sentence and looked guilty.

Harry sighed; he had to tell her, "Mrs. Black, I think there is something you need to know."

"What?" she asked her sudden anger, gone just as suddenly.

"Sirius is innocent."

She sighed and sat back in a chair, shaking her head with a pained expression on her face, "Harry, Dumbledore tried to tell me the same thing a year and a half ago.  But I was there, I saw what happened." She was getting very upset.

"It's true though! Sirius is innocent."

"Stop it!" she said sharply, "I know what happened. I saw it all! He was my son; I wish it could be true! But I have accepted it, and you need to too, Harry.  Sirius betrayed your parents and murdered Peter Pettigrew and all those muggles.  Given half a chance, he would kill you too!"

"Well," Harry said, deciding to chance it, "he has had plenty of chances then."

"What!?"

"Mrs. Black, I see Sirius almost everyday.  We've been alone multiple times. If he had wanted to harm me he could have then.  All Sirius has ever done is do his best to protect me."

"Are you saying that Sirius Black lives at Hogwarts?" she hissed in a low voice.

"Yes."

"And nobody recognizes him?"

"He's …disguised." Harry decided not to say that he was an illegal Animagus; that was not his secret to tell.

"Why are you telling me this? I could go straight to the ministry!"

"Because I think that deep down, you never really could accept that Sirius did those things. And I'm telling you, he's innocent! Please, don't go to the ministry. Sirius never even got a trial! If he is found he'll be given the Dementor's kiss. That would mean I'd loose the only adult who has ever been like a parent to me, it would also get myself and Dumbledore in trouble for harboring a fugitive."

"Alright Harry. I won't go to the Ministry, but I will go to Hogwarts and talk to Dumbledore myself."

Harry sighed in relief, "Can you go to Hogwarts in three days? After I give Dumbledore the Amulet?"

"Fine, three days."

Harry left and flew to a camping ground Claudia directed him to.

_Now, tonight, Death Eaters will gather around that boulder and receive instructions from Voldemort. He found out that even though he couldn't use our power he could use the stone as a magical conductor.  After the Death Eaters leave you can break the boulder.  The red stone, the stone of wisdom, is at its center._

Harry hid in the bushes until dusk.  Twenty or so Death Eaters gathered around the boulder and it started glowing red.  Harry, though, wasn't close enough to hear. He shifted uncomfortably and whined to his Grandmother, _Why can't I just attack them?_

_Because you wouldn't stand a chance alone and we wouldn't be able to augment your power because the Amulet's powers can never be used offensively, they are purely defensive._

Harry sat tight until the Death Eaters left. Then he approached the boulder.  Using a spell Claudia had told him he broke the boulder and retrieved the red and black marbled stone.

"Harry!"

He jumped and whirled and then saw the ghost he had almost forgotten was following him appear, "Myrtle! Honestly, you're going to give me a heart attack!"

"They're planning on attacking Tutshill tomorrow!" She told him, ignoring his last statement and not bothering to apologize.

_Grandma, did you know Voldemort's plan?_

_Of course! We know everything that is transmitted through the stone._

_Were you going to tell me?_

_Yes!_

_Well then, what are we going to do?_

Claudia sighed heavily, _we have to go to Tutshill._

Harry mounted his broom and flung his Invisibility Cloak around himself as Myrtle disappeared from view also.

Claudia directed her grandson to Tutshill.  Arriving after midnight, Harry found an alley where he curled up and went to sleep.

As dawn approached Claudia woke him up. _You're going to perform a very complex Shield Charm.  I'm not going to explain all the details, just know that this will protect the people._

_But,_ Harry responded, confused, _how do I do it then._

_Strictly speaking, you will not be doing it. We will be channeling our powers through you. Go to the north end of the main road._ When he got there she continued, _now, hold the yellow stone in your left hand and hold your wand out with your right hand. Just let us work through you._

_Okay, I'm ready._ Harry said doing as he was told.

Power was suddenly forcing itself through him, like an electrical current, and out of his wand. A blast of bright blue light briefly lit the early morning grayness. Harry then walked to the south end of the main road and once again he could feel the power coursing through his veins.  This time the blast of light was yellow.  As he retrieved his broom and Invisibility Cloak he looked at the small town and saw that there seemed to be a faint dome of green light surrounding the entire village. He just hoped it did what it was supposed to do.

_Back to House Labyrinth?_ He silently asked Claudia, mounting his Firebolt again.

_Yes._

Arriving at the old house once again, Harry followed his Grandmother's instructions again. It took hours to get to the room, same as last time. However, this time Harry was getting very tired because he hadn't had enough sleep the night before.

Finally though, he found the room.

_Take the box out of the middle left hand drawer of the desk. Take the stone out of the box._

Harry did so and found a blue stone with gold streaks along with the Amulet's setting and a thin gold chain.

Putting these new items in his pocket with the other two stones, Harry then found a bed and went to sleep.

As the sun rose over the horizon the next morning, Harry set off north, back towards Hogwarts.  It was late afternoon when he flew to the entrance of Hogwarts grounds. Dismounting from his broom and removing his invisibility cloak he walked back onto the grounds.

He had only gone a little ways when he heard footsteps approaching.  He looked up and saw Dumbledore.  Neither said a word.  Dumbledore placed a hand on Harry's shoulder and walked with him back up to the school.

In the entrance hall the Headmaster spotted Hermione leaving the Great Hall.

"Ms. Granger," she turned and rushed over when she saw Harry, "Would you please go and tell snuffles to come to my office?" Looking at Harry for a few moments she then turned and rushed off.

Entering Dumbledore's sitting room Harry immediately lay down on the couch and closed his eyes, but he did not go to sleep.

_Grandma, will I still be able to talk to you and the others after I give Dumbledore the Amulet?_

_Yes. Remember this feeling, the feeling you get when we talk to you. Just call on that feeling again and then call to me. However, Albus comes first. Once he has accepted ownership of the stone we cannot let our power run through you. He will control the power completely and we can do nothing of our own will._


	7. Seven

This chapter is dedicated to CokeFreak, who I found has added this story as a favorite. Thank you for this wonderful compliment! (Did you know I have you on my favorite authors list?)

Harry Potter and his Dreams

Chapter 7

Dumbledore and Sirius sat in silence as Harry finished his story.  Harry stood up and took the three stones and the setting and chain from his pocket and placed them on the table.

"I…can't see them," said Sirius, then he shook his head, "no, I can see them, I just…can't focus on them."

Dumbledore nodded, it was the same for him.

Harry took out his wand and recited the incantation that he and Sirius' mother had come up with.

"Remove the spell that hid your name, and forced your years in silence. Restore your pieces once again. Rise, power with defiance!"

White light surrounded the pieces; they rose into the air.  There was a blinding flash, then a soft "chink" as the amulet settled back onto the table.

Harry picked up the amulet, whole and looking as though it had never been broken, and handed it to the Headmaster.

Dumbledore stood and took hold of the Amulet.

"Albus Wentworth Dumbledore, you have been chosen to be the next holder of the Wizard's Amulet.  Do you accept the amulet and bind yourself to it?" Claudia Potter's voice filled the room.

Dumbledore lifted the chain over his head saying, "I do."

In another flash of light the amulet was no longer visible. A look of wonder crossed his face as he sat back down.

The headmaster sighed and handed Harry the antidote to the truth potion he had taken.

"Now, we have other matters to discuss.  First, Harry is the matter of how to discipline you. Despite what you did, you broke a major school rule. You should have told someone; you should not have left the grounds."

Harry nodded, he had expected as much.

"Your Invisibility Cloak will be confiscated for the remainder of the year. Madam Hooch will be keeping your broom.  You may only use it for practice and games. If you do not return it to her after each practice or game you will receive a detention. You also serve one detention for each class missed these past few days. You are restricted from visiting Hogsmeade until March.

"I leave the decision of allowing make-up work to your teachers. You will ask each of them if you can make-up the work you have missed.

"Second, I want you to promise us that you will tell us if anything like this happens. Even if you think we'll try to stop you, I want you to tell someone." Dumbledore looked deadly serious.

Harry sighed and nodded, "I promise."

Dumbledore shook his head and gave his pupil a small, sad, smile, "Harry, you give me a heart attack every time you do something like this. I wish you could learn how to trust adults."

Harry didn't know how to respond to this, but was saved from having to do so by Sirius finally speaking up, "Oh, Harry, why couldn't you have told us?"

"Would you have let me go?"

Sirius sighed, "Probably not."

"You couldn't have some with me Sirius. I was fine as soon as I got the first stone, they could protect me. They weren't about to make the same mistake before and leave the carrier unprotected."

Sirius sat bolt upright as he remembered who the last carrier had been, "You visited my mother!"

"Yes," Harry nodded, "she'll be coming," he paused a moment to figure out what day it was, "tomorrow."

"We'll deal with that, then. Right now, I think you should just go on back up to Gryffindor Tower.  You may tell Ron and Hermione what you like." Dumbledore told him.

Harry looked at the clock on the wall of the Headmaster's office and was surprised to see that afternoon classes were already over for the day.

He had just stepped out from behind the gargoyle when he found himself in an embrace.

"Harry, you're safe!" Arabella exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"I came as soon as I could.  I was having classes. What happened? Where did you go?"

Harry sighed, "I think it would be easier if you go look at the record Dumbledore made of it." He turned to go, but Arabella caught him by the arm.

"Are you really okay?" she asked him, concern showing in her eyes.

"I'm great, perfectly fine."

"I'll talk to you later then."

"Harry!" hissed a voice from the stairs.

"Ron," Harry grinned as he say that Ron had his arm around Hermione's waist, then he frowned, "I'm sorry about how I've been treating both of you this past month or so.  I…had a lot on my mind."

"As long as you explain, we won't kill you for it."

Harry grinned and the trio made their way to the library.

"Well?" Hermione asked as they sat down at a remote table.

"I found the Wizard's Amulet and brought it back for Dumbledore."

For once, Hermione didn't know what something was—and Ron did.

The red-haired boy gasped, "I thought it was just a legend!"

"No, it's real.  Voldemort (Ron sighed at this, but didn't protest, he knew he would never be able to break Harry of the habit) stole it twenty-six years ago after the last owner, my grandmother died. It was being brought to Professor Dumbledore. He tried to destroy it, but even he doesn't have enough power to destroy the Wizard's Amulet. So instead he broke it into three pieces and hid it."

"But I still don't understand what it is." Hermione almost wailed.

"Merlin made the amulet and it gets passed from wizard, or witch, to wizard.  Each time the last owner dies, all their power, knowledge, and wisdom get stored in the stone. The next owner can call on that power, they gain all the knowledge and wisdom of the previous owners too.  It gets more powerful with each owner; however, the power can only be used defensively, never offensively. There must have been more than a hundred and fifty witches and wizards in there."

"Like who?" asked Hermione, now eagerly curious.

"Well, my grandmother Claudia Robertson Potter, Merlin," Harry decided to have a little fun, "then there were these four who always talked to me as a group. Let me see, what were their names again?" Harry pretended to be thinking hard, "Oh, I remember! Rowena, Helga, Godric and Salazar."

"The founders!" screeched Hermione.  Madam Pince bustled over and kicked them out of the library.

"You met the founders?" Ron asked awed as they continued their conversation in the corridor.

"Yes. Helga held the amulet first; when she died Salazar became the owner.  After he was murdered it went to Rowena, who passed it onto Godric when she died."

"Salazar Slytherin was _murdered_?" Hermione said in great astonishment, "There is no mention of that in _Hogwarts: A History_!"

"Well, there's no mention of this either," and Harry proceeded to tell them what Salazar had said about the Chamber of Secrets.

"Wow," muttered Ron as they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady, "so Salazar Slytherin wasn't a dark wizard, after all."

Harry noticed that the entire way, Ron and Hermione had been holding hands.

The next day after classes Arabella found Harry, "Can you please get Ron and Hermione and bring them to Dumbledore's office?"

Wondering what was going on, Harry went to the Gryffindor common room to find his two friends.

He found them; Hermione was sitting beside Ron, his arm was around her, her head was resting on his shoulder and his chin in her hair.

Harry smiled to himself and then cleared his throat to get their attention. They both looked at him, Hermione sitting up rather abruptly.

"We are wanted in the Headmaster's office." Harry said.

"Why?" Ron asked as Hermione stood up so he could get off the couch too.

Harry shrugged and then grinned, "Since when are you two an item?"

Ron looked at him with a weird expression, "You _must_ have been really distracted last month, because the whole school knows, and you are just figuring it out."

Harry blushed at the reminder of just how off he really had been.

When the three entered the Headmaster's office they found Sirius, Dumbledore and Maria Black in the sitting room.

"Sirius!" Ron exclaimed grinning.

"How are you?" Hermione asked.

"Since Harry's back, safe, just fine. I'd like you to meet my mother, Maria Townsend Black."

"Ron Weasley," Ron stuck out his hand and shook the hand of the older woman.

"Hermione Granger," she did the same.

"I wanted you here to explain your little adventure in your third year." Dumbledore said.

The three of them eagerly told Mrs. Black about that night in the shrieking shack and Peter Pettigrew's appearance.

"Mother," Sirius said softly, "do you believe me?  You know I'd never have done anything to hurt James and Lily." He looked at her, begging her with his eyes to believe him.

"Is it really true?" asked Maria unevenly, looking at the sage headmaster sitting before her. He nodded and she started to cry. She stumbled over to Sirius and hugged him for the first time in more than a decade.

Suddenly there was a gasp behind them.  They all whipped around to find a very pale Minerva McGonagall.

"A…Albus, Why is S…Sirius Black in you office?" she shakily pointed at the fugitive.

"Minerva," Dumbledore said urgently, walking quickly to close the door behind the startled woman, "Sirius is innocent; he did not betray the Potters. He did not kill Peter Pettigrew and all those muggles that day."

She gaped at the headmaster in disbelief.

"Professor, Sirius is innocent!" Harry added in, "He is my Godfather and we've been in contact with each other since the end of my third year."

"I…I'm…I don't believe this! I mean th…there were witnesses. Minister Fudge himself got there just after it happened…." She trailed off and gripped her wand in her hand as Sirius stood and approached her.

He put his hands in front of him to show he meant no harm. "Professor McGonagall, I swear to you, I have never served Voldemort (she flinched at the name). James was my best friend, we were closer than that, we were brothers! I _did not _betray him and Lily," Sirius said fervently.

"Then what did happen?" the transfiguration teacher asked lowering her wand a fraction of an inch.

They quickly told her about the switch in secret keepers and what really happened that day on the street in London.

"Who else knows?" she finally asked, dropping her wand arm down to her side.

"All of us here, Arabella, Remus, Severus, Mundungus, and the Weasleys."

It seemed that the mention of Severus believing the story convinced Minerva and she had her wand hidden once again in her pocket by the time Dumbledore finished his list.

"Alright, I believe you. I still don't understand though how he got here without being noticed."

Sirius grinned at his old transfiguration teacher and transformed into Snuffles. McGonagall's eyes bugged out, "That's the dog you had me lead up to your office last year, and that has been hanging around the grounds all this year!"

"Yes," Dumbledore said, "an illegal animagus. There were three, James Sirius and Peter accomplished it in their fifth year."

Sirius turned back into himself and looked to the three students who were still present.  "Ron, Harry, Hermione, thanks for your help. You can return to whatever you were doing (Harry grinned at Ron and Hermione). I'll see you later Harry."

Over the next few weeks Harry tried his best to show Arabella, Sirius, and Dumbledore that he could follow rules when not pressed to do otherwise. In classes he worked extra hard.  All of his teachers, except for Snape, allowed him to make up the work he had missed.

Outside of class Ron and Hermione wanted to be alone together a considerable amount of time and so Harry found himself more and more in the company of Neville (to whom he never let on that he knew about his parents) and Ginny (who he noticed was growing up and didn't seem to be just Ron's little sister any more).

Before anyone knew it, it was Christmas break.  Unlike the previous year, most children went home for the holiday. Ron and Hermione stayed with Harry. Ginny and the twins also stayed because their parents were doing some holiday traveling to where Charlie's job had been relocated: Manchuria.  The Gryffindor's had the most students staying at the castle; of the 12 total students there, Gryffindor represented half.

Harry awoke Christmas morning excited when he saw the stack of gifts at the foot of his bed.  He carried them all downstairs and joined the four Weasleys and Hermione.

They spent the morning hours opening gifts. Harry received a Chudley Cannons hat from Ron and a book entitled _The Seeker's Secrets_ from Hermione. To his surprise Ginny gave him a gift, which made him very glad he had gotten her one. She gave him a watch to replace the one that had been ruined after it had been underwater an hour during the second task of the TriWizard Tournament. It was a waterproof watch.

Mrs. Weasley gave him the customary goodies and hand-knitted sweater.  Fred and George gave him a gift in front of everyone; a sample box of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, but in private gave him a legal document that named him a silent business partner and gave him one-third ownership of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, Inc.

From Sirius he received the most wonderful gift he had gotten since Hagrid gave him the photo album in his first year. It was a book full of memories of his parents compiled by Sirius from different sources including their old teachers, friends and co-workers (which left Harry wondering what exactly his parents had done for a living.)

Arabella gave him a locket that had belonged to his mother. Remus sent a note, wishing him Merry Christmas and apologizing that he couldn't send a gift.  Hagrid gave him figurine miniature of a Blast-Ended Skrewt, a gift that sent everyone into helpless giggles for twenty minutes.

That night at dinner the feast was scrumptious. All the students had been invited to join the teachers at the head table.

Fred and George were teasing Ginny and Ron was laughing while he told a third year Hufflepuff about Fred and George's latest invention, the Chameleon Chew, which turned your skin whatever color was most prevalent in your surroundings at the moment (Harry had had the pleasure of being the guinea pig for that one and had spent two hours in the common room, bright red).

Without warning Harry's scar burned with pain. He sucked in sharply, but then it was gone, as suddenly as it had started.

"Harry, did you say something?" Hermione asked, pausing in her conversation with a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"No," Harry answered, figuring it must have been nothing.

Severus Snape left the meal at that moment, but Harry was already in conversation with Ron and didn't notice. After dinner they all retired to the Common Room where they played Exploding Snap and then had a Chess tournament (Ron beat everybody).

Fred and George handed out sweets, which everybody tried, with some hesitancy.

Ginny ate a Licorice Language stick and ended up speaking German for half an hour.  Harry was given an Exploding Éclair, which allowed him to breath fire for a few seconds. Hermione got a Be-Happy Lollipop, which actually made her quite hyper because the cheering charm on it was a bit overdone. Ron, however, ate an animal cookie and turned into a llama for a minute or two.

After they had laughed themselves to exhaustion they gathered their gifted together and went to their rooms and went to bed to sleep for a very long time.

"Are you ready to become a Death Eater, and join my forces?" Voldemort asked. Harry's scar ached dully as he looked around and found himself in a fairly large room, but there were only three people present: Voldemort and two hooded figures. The taller one pushed the other one forward.

_He lifted his sleeve and stuck out his left arm. "Yes, My Lord," Harry started as he recognized the voice of Draco Malfoy.  What surprised him though was that the boy sounded afraid._

_Voldemort touched his wand to Draco's flesh just below his elbow and whispered some words that Harry couldn't catch, except for the last one, which was "Morsmordre."_

_What looked like black ink started pouring out, forming itself into the Dark Mark on Draco's arm.  Voldemort removed his wand._

_The Dark Mark glistened momentarily, then it started to…melt, was the only way to describe it.  Then it started spreading, looking like cracks along a fault line.  The blackness followed the veins, up and down the arm._

_As soon as it started melting, Draco started to scream. Voldemort waved his wand, no more sound could be heard, but Harry's scar was no longer dully aching, it burned.  He tried to ignore it so he could concentrate on the dream._

_"Lucius," Voldemort said coldly, "you said he was completely devoted to me. Your son, however, has proven himself a weak traitor and has refused to join my service. I have no more use of him." Voldemort walked to the door, followed by Lucius, who didn't even look back at his son who was now writhing on the floor as the black spread up his neck and to his face._

_"He'll be dead and decayed by morning," Voldemort said cruelly as he left.  Harry ran and followed them out the door; he glanced around taking in as much as possible, and then woke himself up._

He muttered the charm to keep the dream in his head jumped out of bed.  He jammed his glasses in his head and glanced at his clock; it was 1:26.

He had to tell Dumbledore now.

He left the room as quickly as possible, trying not to disturb Ron. Then he ran down the halls toward Dumbledore's office.

He turned a corner and ran smack into someone. He staggered and fell backwards onto the floor.

"Mr. Potter, up in the middle of the night? Curfew still applies over the break, you know," said the unpleasant voice of Severus Snape. Harry hurriedly got to his feet, cursing the fact the Dumbledore had confiscated his Invisibility Cloak.

"Well, well, well, I believe I shall take one hundred points off of Gryffindor," the potions master said with a gleefully malicious glint in his eyes, "and we shall see about your expulsion in the morning."

"I have to see Professor Dumbledore!" Harry said.

"Mr. Potter, I suggest you return to you room, now." Snape's eyes narrowed.

"I have to talk to Dumbledore!" Harry insisted again.

"It can wait until morning!" snapped the irritated man.

"No, it can't!" Harry said desperately.

Snape's patience snapped, he pointed his wand at Harry and said "_Mobiliarbus_." And Harry floated off the ground.

Not really caring what Snape was doing at the moment, Harry, in a last ditch attempt to contact Dumbledore, thought of something.

_Grandma!_ He screamed in his head.

_Harry? My goodness, what's wrong?_ His grandmother's voice answered almost instantly, to his relief.

_Wake up Dumbledore, please, now! Can you make him hear me?_

There was silence for a few moments and then the feeling of the connection with his grandmother changed slightly.

_Harry? What's the problem?_ Dumbledore's voice said.

Harry shoved the images from the dream in its entirety through the link to Dumbledore.

_Oh my!_ Was all the Headmaster said and then he was no longer there.

Harry relaxed; he had done his job.  He turned his attention back to his present situation. Snape had not taken him back to Gryffindor, he had taken Harry to a door he had never even noticed.

Snape knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again.

Still no answer.

He banged on the door a third time.

Finally the door opened to reveal a very upset Minerva McGonagall.

"Severus," she demanded, "what is the meaning of this? Waking me up at…" she trailed off as she saw Harry.

"Mr. Potter was out of bed.  I found him.  I took one hundred points from Gryffindor. He's in your house, what are you going to do with him?"

McGonagall's face went red.  A student out of bed was not a good thing; Snape finding him was ten times worse.

"I'm going to ask him to explain himself," McGonagall said harshly as Snape ended the spell he had used to guide Harry there.

They all entered McGonagall's sitting room.  Harry glanced around and saw, to his surprise, Snuffles stretched in front of the fireplace, sound asleep.

McGonagall, agitated, waved her wand and the room instantly lit. Snuffles stirred and woke up. Seeing who was in the room, he quickly transformed.

Severus looked at him with a look of pure hatred.

"What's going on here?" he asked moving closer.

"I found Mr. Potter out of bed. I have brought him to his head of house to be dealt with," the potion master sneered.

To Snape's surprise Sirius looked upset. "Harry?" he asked sharply.

"Explain yourself," demanded McGonagall.

"I had a dream," immediately Sirius understood, but apparently the two professors didn't, Harry continued, "I needed to tell Dumbledore about it."

"Why would the Headmaster care about a nightmare you had?" Snape said acidly.

_Harry, go wake up Arabella, bring her to the infirmary. Tell her to get Severus too._ Dumbledore said urgently in his head.

"I have to go get Professor Figg!" Harry said.

"What?" Professors McGonagall and Snape asked simultaneously.

"Why?" added Sirius.

"Dumbledore told me to! Professor Snape, he wants you in the infirmary and he wants me to bring Arabella."

The two professors looked at him like he was absolutely insane.  Harry took the opportunity to leave.

"Harry Potter!" screeched Professor McGonagall, moving to follow him.

"Minerva, " Sirius said moving in front of her, "do you recall what Albus told you about Harry's dreams? His dreams of Voldemort?"

Understanding dawned on both Severus' and Minerva's faces. Severus rushed out, heading for the infirmary.


	8. Eight

Harry Potter and His Dreams

Chapter 8

"Arabella!" Harry knocked pounded on her door.

"Harry?" she said groggily. Then she shook herself, realizing it had to be important if he was waking her up in the middle of the night.

"What's wrong?"

"Professor Dumbledore wants you now, in the infirmary."

"Explain," she said as she followed him through the halls.  He told her about the dream; she quickened her step.

Entering the infirmary Harry saw Madam Pomfrey, Severus Snape and the Headmaster gathered around Draco, who was lying on a bed.  Harry could see that the black ink-like substance was now spreading across the skin, not just in the veins themselves.  Draco was unconscious.

"I don't know what kind of poison this is, nor do I know what to do about it.  I can't remove poison that has spread so far without a specific antidote!" Madam Pomfrey was saying with a panicked note in her voice.

"Severus, do you know the new induction techniques of Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked rather urgently.

"No," the Potions Master answered in a distracted voice, looking at Draco as the poison continued to spread.

"Arabella, have you ever seen anything like this?" Dumbledore turned to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Never," she shook her head, her eyes never leaving the young man.

But Harry had an idea, "The book," he said. Everyone looked at him, not understanding. Harry tried to explain, "The book the Death Eaters stole from the Ministry two months ago, there could be something there."

"I have the duplicate copy," Arabella said and summoned it.

They spent a good half hour searching through the book. They finally found a potion called _Somatikos Fthora_ that had a description of a progressive decay of the body. They figured that this was what Voldemort had adapted it from, but once the poison had been in the system for ten minutes no antidote could possibly stop it, nor was there a way to neutralize it.  The victim died, decayed, and was left as dust within five hours of administration.

"Poppy, do you know of anything?" Dumbledore asked with a panicked note in his voice.

The nurse, now very pale and worried, answered, "The only thing I can think of is a spell that takes more power than the five of us combined."

"What spell?" Dumbledore asked, suddenly straightening.

"A Blood Cleansing spell usually used to remove excess toxins in the blood stream should, in theory, work. They, however, take incredible amounts of power in order to literally suck out the foreign particles.  Blood Cleansing spells have never been used to remove poison! You can't even use it on toxins if there is a build up greater than .01 parts per million. It's impossible."

Dumbledore pulled his wand out of his robes and put the tip to Draco's left forearm, the exact spot that Voldemort had placed the Dark Mark.

"Sanguinus Puros!" he said.

At first, nothing happened. Then, after a good half hour, Harry saw that the poison was slowly receding from Draco's left leg.  He motioned silently to it.  Arabella nodded.

With increasing speed, the poison was drawn back to the place of origin. After more than two hours, the poison was back where it started, in the form of the Dark Mark. Then, even that was sucked back into Dumbledore's wand.  All that was left was a red outline of the Dark Mark.

Briefly, Draco moaned and moved. The Headmaster muttered a incantation and Draco fell into a peaceful sleep.

"How?" Madam Pomfrey stared in wonder at Dumbledore.  She knew he was powerful , but no one had enough power to do what he had just done.

Dumbledore ignored her question and just said, "I suggest you have some Restorative Draughts ready for when Mr. Malfoy wakes up. Severus, you can talk to him when he wakes up tomorrow," then he turned to Harry, "You did a very noble thing; you saved Draco's life.  Three hundred points to Gryffindor." The he swept out of the infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey was still standing, stunned, trying to figure out _how_ the headmaster had accomplished this miracle. Arabella and Harry, of course, understood how he had done it. They exited soon after Dumbledore.

As they walked the Defense professor spoke up, "That _was_ very noble of you Harry.  I know you hate him, yet you saved his life."

Harry was silent for a few minutes then he answered, "There have already been too many deaths that I could not prevent."

"Go to bed," Arabella suggested quietly, hearing the pain and exhaustion in her student's voice.

Harry nodded to her and quickened his pace to return to the Gryffindor Common Room. Arabella slowly walked back to her suite, contemplating the situation Draco was now in; would his father even realize Draco was alive? The description of the potion indicated that there would only be dust left of the body by the time the poison had run its course. If Lucius Malfoy never found any remains of his son in that room, he would not know the difference between Draco being rescued, or dying.

"Arabella," Minerva's voice cut into her thoughts and she abruptly halted. "What happened?" Minerva's head was sticking out her door. Arabella entered and sat down on the couch beside Sirius.

"Voldemort (Minerva scowled at the use of the name) has a new induction process for his Death Eaters." She paused for a moment organizing what she knew of the poison and Harry's dream in her head, in order to make some sense of it. "Evidently he has incorporated a Loyalty Sensitive spell into the Dark Mark.  When, or if, the new Death Eater decides not to give his loyalty to Voldemort anymore, the Dark Mark turns to poison and the victim dies in a matter of hours, leaving no traces behind. Tonight he used it.  The new inductee, obviously, did not wish to truly serve Voldemort.  Harry saw the poison start in his dream.  He woke up and knew that if he did not tell Albus immediately, the boy would most likely be dead by morning."

"Who?" asked Sirius.

Arabella sighed, "Well, I suppose Dumbledore'll tell the staff and Harry will probably tell you, Sirius.  It was Draco Malfoy."

"Draco Malfoy?" Minerva breathed out, rather more surprised than she would like to admit.

"He _didn't_ want to join Voldemort?" Sirius asked in wonder.

"Well, it remains to be seen whether this reluctance to join You-Know-Who is because he does not agree with the ideals, or if it is because he refuses to be anyone else's servant. I'm inclined to think it is the latter. But…." Minerva paused for a moment, brows furrowing, "How could Dumbledore stop a poison that is as deadly as you say it is?"

"He used blood cleansing spells." Arabella said.

"For a whole body, _all at once_? That takes more power than even _he_ has!" The Deputy Headmistress insisted.

"Yes, well, that was another, more indirect, way in which Harry saved Draco's life tonight.  Did Albus ever explain to you why Harry was gone for three days last month?"

"No," Minerva looked startled; she couldn't see how _that_ connected with the present situation.

"Well, you'll have to ask Albus about that. Suffice it to say that Harry brought something back that helped him heal Draco."

~~****~~

The next morning the big topic of discussion at breakfast was "how did Gryffindor get two hundred points between last night and this morning?" Nobody could figure it out. When classes resumed the next week the returning students wondered the same thing.

For the first week of school, Draco was nowhere to be seen.  He caused quite a stir among the Slytherins when he entered the Great Hall for breakfast.  Watching him closely, Harry could tell he was still somewhat weak from the poison's effects, but no one else seemed to notice anything. Pansy Parkinson looked stunned, yet excited to see him.  Crabbe and Goyle stared stupidly at him.  It was obvious that none of them had expected him to come back. Harry shivered as he thought of the implications of that.

Pansy rushed over to him, meeting him as he passed the Gryffindor table, near to where Harry was sitting.

"Draco!" Harry could hear her say, "my parents said your Father had transferred you to Durmstrang!" So _that_ was how Lucius Malfoy had planned on explaining his missing son to his friends. Harry figured that the parents, on the other hand, would understand perfectly what had happened to Draco.

Then a thought struck Harry, the same one that had struck Arabella the night of the poisoning. Did Malfoy's father even know he was alive? _Well,_ Harry thought to himself, _with all the Slytherins seeing him now, it won't take long for the news to get back to Mr. Malfoy._

Harry didn't tell anyone what had happened, not even Ron and Hermione, although Dumbledore did tell him that he had describe it from Harry's dream for Snape and McGonagall.  However, Harry avoided Draco when possible, because he really didn't feel like any confrontation with his rival.  On the other hand, Draco had stopped being so rude to others, though Harry suspected that it was, at the moment, more reflective than a true change of character.

Still, Harry couldn't bring himself to be mean to Draco.  Every time he thought of Draco, or saw him in the halls, he no longer saw the enemy of four years, instead he saw him writhing as the poison spread slowly through his body.  And Lucius Malfoy just leaving him to die.

In potions one day in early February Snape paired them off to work.  He paired Harry and Draco together.  Harry grumbled to himself in his mind that even though he hadn't had any confrontations with him, _didn't_ mean he wanted to be friends with him.

The lesson was on poisons; the recipe Harry and Draco were assigned to mix caused the skin to break out in boils. Draco looked visibly shaken as he read at the recipe.  Suddenly, Harry understood, at least partly, the reason Snape had put Draco with Harry. Snape knew that Draco might not be able to brew a poison so soon after a near death experience cause by poison.  However, he also knew that Harry was the only one who would understand Draco's reluctance to work with poison. 

Without a word, Harry took the recipe and made the entire potion, only asking Draco to hand him the ingredients.  Draco looked relieved, but puzzled at the same time.  He didn't say anything though.  Unfortunately, someone else noticed and _did_ say something.

"Malfoy," Ron hissed as Snape was across the room examining the mess Neville and Goyle had managed to create, "too good to do your own work? I should think you'd jump at the chance to make a poison."

"Ron!" Harry glared at his friend. Ron looked at him surprised and Harry fumbled for an excuse, so Ron wouldn't think he had been defending Malfoy, "Your potion!" Ron hurriedly turned back to his cauldron, which was in serious trouble of running over.

Draco's initial response to Ron's comments had been to merely turn away.  However, when he heard Harry's response he turned back around and looked at him with veiled surprise. At the end of class, Harry had packed up his things and was leaving the room when a voice whispered in his ear, "Five points to Gryffindor."

Harry stood for a moment, stunned.  It was the first time he had ever heard of Snape awarding points to his house.

~~****~~

Halfway through February there was a Hogsmeade weekend.  Harry, of course, couldn't go, so he found himself in the library doing homework on a Saturday.  He was almost finished with his History of Magic essay on the Salem Witch Trials (he wondered why they were learning about them when they occurred on a different _continent_) when he stretched his neck and glanced around. To his surprise, he saw another figure in the library.

Two tables away, it looked as though Draco was also working on homework. Harry stared, wondering why Draco was not in Hogsmeade. Draco looked up, feeling that someone was looking at him.

"What do you want, Potter?" he snapped when he saw who was staring at him.

Harry shrugged, "Just surprised that you aren't in Hogsmeade." He answered.

"Well, why aren't you?" Draco demanded.

"I'm not allowed to go to Hogsmeade until March."

"Why," Draco asked, curiously, startled out of his normally haughty façade by Harry's candid answer and the easy tone with which he said it.

"I got in trouble in November and so I'm not allowed to return 'til next month. Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?" Harry asked again.

"I didn't want to go!" Draco said, his normal attitude reasserting itself. Then he slammed his book closed and stalked out of the library.

_That was weird_, thought Harry, returning to his essay.


	9. Nine

A/N: okay I know I promised this by the end of march and that didn't happen, but I'm not _too_ late with it either, so enjoy this chapter. 

PS: Draco and Harry are not yet friends, there is too much past between them for that to happen very quickly.  Plus, Draco still doesn't know what his own beliefs are.  He still holds onto some of the pureblood philosophies he was taught, but he did not want to join Voldemort because his father also taught him to have pride and he knows there is nothing to be proud of in bowing down and groveling to someone who will just hurt you anyway.  He has not had a true change of heart yet-just separated from his father.  In chapter ten (I think that is where it comes in) he starts to have his change of heart when he realizes that Harry was the one who saved his life.

Harry Potter and his Dreams

Chapter 9

As February melted into March, Harry had a few dreams of Voldemort, but they were all just with the Death Eaters. He was mainly concentrating on his course work because the teachers were pushing them hard in preparation for the OWLs in May. 

Snape continued to pair Harry with Draco and the two had managed to work out a system where they didn't have to say a word to each other. Surprisingly, Harry was now achieving better potions scores than he ever remembered. Perhaps working with Draco had its benefits: Snape _had_ to give them the same grade on the in-class portions.

In transfiguration class McGonagall had started them in on transfiguring each other. There were some rather remarkable results. Perhaps the most interesting was Neville, after finally successfully transforming Dean into a parakeet, had tried to reverse the transfiguration, but ended up omitting clothing. Luckily, Dean's boxers _had_ followed his human form. They were blue, with footballs (soccer balls) rolling around the bottom, and had "_West Ham!"_ blinking in bright yellow letters across the butt cheeks.

"Today, I want you all to put your books in the bags. I'll be testing you today on your knowledge of shield charms and other defensive, and offensive, tactics you have learned in the past.  We will have somewhat of a dueling tournament.  I will pair you up so that you are, somewhat, evenly matched. In the future, you will most likely be paired with someone who you are not evenly matched with; I'm just going to be easy on you today." Arabella explained when they got into class in early March.

Harry froze. Dueling? That was not something he was looking forward to.  He had not told Arabella, or even Sirius, that he still had nightmares about the Third Task. Dueling with Lord Voldemort had left him wary of what most considered a _sport_. The rest of the class was whispering excitedly.

"Okay, I arranged for a double period today; Hagrid will have a double lesson with you next Monday to make up for today. The winner of the tournament today will receive a 5 galleon gift certificate to Honeydukes or the Three Broomsticks, your choice. First match, Miss Granger versus Mr. Potter." Arabella cleared a space at the front of the room for them to use.

Hermione wasted no time starting, "Confundo!" Harry dove out of the way and immediately shot back "Expelliarmus." Hermione deflected it towards the chalkboard.

On his feet again, Harry quickly created a shield and shot a stunning spell at Hermione, who dodged it and sent a Jelly-Legs curse at him. Luckily, his shield absorbed it.

They continued for a good ten minutes until Hermione caught Harry's shield at a weak point and managed to disarm him. Harry grinned at Hermione and sat down, mostly relieved that he wouldn't have to duel anyone else.  Dueling automatically made him uneasy. 

He watched the others complete the first round of dueling. Ron and Dean dueled second and Ron won quickly, after using a spell to make Dean's robes disappear, leaving him, once again, in just his boxers. Dean had been so stunned at the repeat performance that Ron disarmed him.

Next Seamus and Parvati dueled.  The two were quite well matched and they threw spells, curses and hexes at each other for almost fifteen minutes (the longest duel so far) before Parvati Summoned Seamus' wand straight from his hand.

The last duel of the first round was between Neville and Lavender. Neville managed to come up with a very creative way to defeat Lavender. He lengthened her robes and she tripped, allowing him to stun her while she grabbed for a desk.

"Excellent!" Arabella cried, "Now, second round. Miss Granger versus Mr. Weasley."

Harry smirked. Now _this_ would be interesting.  As they began, everyone could see that Ron was mostly acting defensively, and not offensively. Apparently, this angered Hermione and so she ended it quickly with a whole barrage of curses that Ron could not hope to deflect or dodge.

Then Parvati and Neville dueled. Parvati won, leaving the final round between Hermione and herself.

Parvati may have been a good match for Seamus, but she was nowhere near as quick as Hermione and so Hermione won the duel quickly.

"Congratulations, Miss Granger. You have won the tournament. Which would you like the gift certificate for, Honeydukes, or the Three Broomsticks?"

Hermione thought a moment, "Three Broomsticks."

"Here you are then." Arabella handed it to her. "Alright," she was once again addressing the whole class, "from now on we will be dueling at least once a week. The prize for each tournament will vary from week to week. However, by the time OWLs get here, the individual with the most tournament victories out of _all_ my fifth year classes will receive one hundred points to his or her house and four tickets to the European Cup taking place this July."

There were many excited whispers at this announcement.

"Now, we will discuss the mistakes each of you made for the rest of the class period.  In order to get better you need to know your strengths and weaknesses."

When they finally left Defense that day Harry left Hermione and Ron to their argument. Hermione was berating Ron for not doing his best in his duel with her. Ron was futilely trying to defend himself. He finally gave up and silenced her with a kiss. Harry left at that point and started walking back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Harry, do you have some time?" Arabella called down the hall.

He turned back around and followed her to her sitting room.

"You weren't trying your hardest today." Arabella stated.

Harry just gave a small nod.

"Why?"

Harry sighed, "I don't like dueling."

Arabella gazed at him for a moment and then sat back in her favorite chair, "We never have discussed what happened last June, have we?"

Harry slowly shook his head.

"Do you want to?"

"Not particularly."

"I'm sorry Harry. I should have warned you beforehand that we would be dueling today.  It must have slipped my mind. Dueling with Lord Voldemort at the age of fourteen could not have been a fun experience and I probably reminded you of it a bit too strongly today."

"No, it's not that…."

"Isn't it?"

"Well, I guess part of it is." Harry fell silent.

Arabella sighed, "We don't have to talk about it right now, but you will have to do better in class if you want to keep up the grade average you have been making. I know your potential Harry and I won't let you settle for not reaching it. Now, get on to dinner."

Harry left, thinking.

"Harry," Hermione said after dinner, "next Saturday is the first Hogsmeade trip you can go on, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, part of the afternoon Ron and I are going to have a lunch date at the Three Broomsticks on my gift certificate. Is that okay with you?" she seemed a little nervous to be excluding him for even an hour for them to eat alone together.

"Have fun," was all Harry got a chance to say before Hermione attacked him with a squeal and a hug.

"Thank you Harry! We will of course spend most of the time with you." She said as though making sure he knew that.

As it turned out, Harry ended up not going to Hogsmeade at all. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, but around midnight he sat straight up in bed, wide awake and shaking.  Since none of his roommates had awoken, he guessed he had not screamed.

_Grandma?_ He called out in his mind.  There was no answer. He started to panic, _Grandma?_ He said more urgently.  _Grandma!_ He tried for a third time with all his might.

There was still no answer.  He threw his covers off and ran out of his room, down the stairs and out of the common room.  He skidded to a halt at the back of the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom and then realized he had left his wand under his pillow. Silently cursing himself he said the password anyway, hoping it would work, and knocked on the door.  He let out a sigh of relief as he heard movement.

Arabella opened the door, "Harry? Can it wait? I'm busy at the moment."

Harry shook his head, "When was the last time I was here in the middle of the night?"

Arabella thought for a moment and Harry's patience snapped, "If you don't want to know then I'll do something myself!" he said.

Arabella quickly ushered him inside.  Draco Malfoy was sitting on a couch with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands-it looked like Harry wasn't the only one with nightmares tonight.  Draco looked surprised to see Harry there, and a little upset at his private talk with Arabella being interrupted.

"What happened Harry?" The professor asked, pulling his attention back to the woman.

"I had a dream, like the one over Christmas holiday, and I can't reach Dumbledore!"

Arabella was suddenly very alert as Draco looked on confused, "Who?"

"Professor Snape."

She went pale, "Dumbledore is gone until tomorrow afternoon and no one else has the power!" she whispered.

"Where is he?" asked Harry.

"London, the Aurors have asked him to help with a number of security modifications.  He must be actually _doing_ magic, and complicated magic at that, for you not to be able to reach him.  Why he is doing magic at this time of night is beyond me," Arabella started pacing.

"Well, we have to do something!" 

"Where is Severus, Harry?"

"I can't tell," Harry said agitated, "all I know is…." He trailed off and turned sharply to look at Draco, who had been completely confused by their entire conversation and who was very startled to feel Harry's intense gaze.

"What?" he said, for lack of anything better.

"He's in the same room you were in.  Where is that room?" Harry said, not even realizing how Draco might react to being reminded of it.

Draco's eyes widened, "How did you know?"

"Draco," Arabella said commandingly, drawing attention away from Harry, "the Dark Lord has used the same poison on Professor Snape.  I need to know where he is."

Draco looked at her and Harry for a few moments before managing to stammer out, "The…the old church basement behind the post office in Hogsmeade."

"Harry, keep trying to contact Dumbledore.  Draco, please go wake up Madam Pomfrey and tell her what is going on."  With that the witch waved her wand and she was in pants and off running.  Moments later Harry saw her figure on a broom flying away from Hogwarts.

_Grandma!_  No luck.

Harry ran to McGonagall's room.  He woke her up, explaining what had happened.  She paled.  Without saying a word to Harry she drew her wand, lit a fire, and started muttering incantations.  The fire divided into four separate columns of flame, one red, one green, one yellow, and one blue. "Albus, come back to Hogwarts!" she yelled into the fire and then the columns of flame formed themselves into the Hogwarts crest.

She turned to Harry, "That is the best I can do; let's get to the infirmary."

With that the two of them were off.  _Grandma!_ He tried again as they entered the infirmary.  They joined Draco and Poppy, waiting for Arabella to bring Snape.  Every few minutes Harry would try Dumbledore again.

An hour later Arabella entered, looking very frazzled, with Snape floating behind her. "Neither of us could reach the Headmaster," Harry said indicating himself and the Deputy Headmistress.

Arabella nodded and helped Madam Pomfrey place the unconscious professor on the bed.  The poison had already spread through his veins and was now going from pore to pore.  He looked, and smelled, half rotted.  Madam Pomfrey quickly scanned him and said, "If Albus doesn't get her in the next ten minutes the damage will be irreversible."

_Grandma!_ Still silence.

"I still can't reach him!" Harry said in frustration, then he tried to calm himself down, an idea forming in his head. "Can we slow it any?"

Minerva looked and the nurse who shrugged helplessly, "I don't know.  A homeostasis charm might stop the poison where it is, but using that for anything longer than five or ten minutes will cause brain damage.  I don't even know how the poison would react to such a spell." The woman was wringing her hands.

That was too dangerous, so they decided to do "spot purification" where each of them would do the blood cleaning spells for a few minutes, focusing on the vital organs.  Harry and Draco both managed to slow the spread somewhat.  Poppy and Minerva both slowed the poison considerably. Arabella was the only one to stop the spread completely, but she could only keep up that power level for a few minutes.  None of them were able to reverse the flow.  Yet it seemed to increase Snape's chances somewhat.

After half an hour of this, in which Harry intermittently tried to contact Dumbledore, he received an answer in his mind.

_Harry, I received an emergency call from Minerva. What has happened?_

Harry stopped his spell in sudden relief, turning his whole attention to the Headmaster.

_Voldemort poisoned Professor Snape._ Harry sent a mental image to Dumbledore.

_I'm on my way._ Was the only answer he got.

"Professor Dumbledore is on his way Harry announced. The others looked somewhat relieved, but they knew it was not yet over.  Apparating from London to Hogsmeade straight was dangerous, so he would most likely have to divide up the trip into smaller apparation distances.  Plus it was a good half an hour to get from Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts infirmary.  The entire trip might take forty-five minutes.

To everyone's surprise, Albus Dumbledore appeared in the infirmary five minutes later. He quickly got to work.  Snape had had the potion in his system for a good two hours.  It took another three hours for Dumbledore to remove the poison.  He awoke as the last of the poison left his body.  He saw who was standing around him.  Then he looked directly at Harry, "So you _did_ tell him.  Three hundred points to Gryffindor," he said in a weak voice, before Madam Pomfrey forced a sleeping potion down his throat.

"Now," Dumbledore said, "tell me what happened."

"Well, I had a dream," Harry paused and called the dream up in his mind and sent it directly to the headmaster through his link with his grandmother.

_"So, Severus, you have decided to come.  I thought you weren't going to show."_

_"I could not leave sooner, Master." Snape said, bowing to the floor._

_"Ah, Severus, you disappoint me.  You see, I received an alarming report from Wormtail two days ago.  He says that you are not loyal to me.  I did not want to believe him, but then he reminded me that you did not inform me of Draco Malfoy's presence at the school.  I had to learn that from the children of my other Death Eaters.  He told me an amazing story of you meeting with Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.  I said to him 'Severus would not betray me' and then he reminded me of the little incident four years ago, where you tried your hardest to stop me from getting the Sorcerer's stone.  You knew it was me, you felt your mark react as I took over Quirrel little by little.  I have been too lenient with you.  Now you will pay for betraying me.  Crucio!"_

_Severus started screaming as Voldemort laughed and waved a hand at the others gathered around him. They joined in. _

_After a few minutes, Voldemort let up and so did the others.  Then he approached the cowering, shaking figure,  "You're only salvation is in death now, Severus."_

_"Then kill me," he said through gritted teeth._

_"No Severus, you will suffer first," Voldemort said, thoroughly enjoying himself._

_Severus struggled to gain enough control over his aching body to grasp his wand._

_"Oh no, we can't have that," Voldemort said and flicked his wand.  Metal straps appeared out of nowhere, securing him to the floor spread-eagle.  Then the Dark Lord rolled up the man's sleeve where the dark mark was and put his wand to it.  He started muttering an incantation and the black poison started to pour out of his wand.  Severus started to scream again, but soon the pain was too much for even that and all he could do was whimper.  His body wanted to curl up into a fetal position but he could not move because of the metal._

Voldemort sneered, "Traitors never prosper Severus, especially those who betray me." Then he left.

"After I woke up," Harry continued explaining after sending Albus the dream, "I tried to contact you." He explained that he had gotten Arabella and how they had each contributed to trying to stop the poison.

Dumbledore then turned to Arabella and she started speaking, "It took me a while to remove the metal the Dark Lord had used to keep him on the floor.  I was afraid he was going to die before he even got back here.  This time the poison was most definitely stronger."

Dumbledore nodded and turned to Draco, "Three hundred points to Slytherin, for your part in helping," then he addressed all of them, "I am sorry I could not be reached.  I was actively expending power." The he said, almost to himself, "The first thing we need to do is find an antidote to that poison," then he shook his head and looked up at the others, "You may talk to Professor Snape some other time.  Right now, it is time for all of us to sleep." With that he surprised everyone by stretching out on the bed he had been sitting on and falling asleep instantly.

_Grandma, is he okay?"_ Harry asked concerned.

_He just needs rest Harry,_ even Claudia Potter sounded weary, _He has expended more than fifty times his own power today._

Madam Pomfrey shooed them all out.  Harry crawling in bed and noticing that it was already past dawn (it was almost 6:15) when a sudden thought struck him. _How had Dumbledore apparated into the school?_ Then he fell asleep, completely exhausted, and slept right through the next day's Hogsmeade trip. He also missed the big discussion at breakfast-how had both Gryffindor and Slytherin gained three hundred points during the night.


End file.
